http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== Emergency Food Supply Kits Emergency Food Supply *New Madrid Earthquake Zone in Heartland America: 1811-12 …* Home » New Madrid Earthquake Zone in Heartland America: 1811-12 … 1811-12 Earthquakes near the Mississippi River’s Reelfoot Rift Zone Mar 9, 2010 Vanessa Cross The New Madrid Fault System is a tectonic plate located in the Midwestern and Southern United States. It lies underneath the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. It runs 150 miles from Cairo, Illinois through Caruthersville and New Madrid, Missouri, to Blytheville, Arkansas to Marked Tree, Arkansas. The tectonic fault continues into Tennessee, near Reelfoot Lake, and continues southeast to Dyersburg into Fulton, Kentucky. The 6.0 Magnitude or Greater Richter Scale History of New Madrid Region Toponomastic specialists study placenames and seek to explain the meaning and origin of settlement names.The area at present day Caruthersville and New Madrid, Missouri was called “Pemiscot” by the native inhabitants and is interpreted to translate into “liquid mud.” The tectonic plate lines crosses the Mississippi River three times. The seismic activity occurs 3 to 15 miles (5 to 25 km) underneath the Earth’s surface. While the frequency of fault activity along the New Madrid tectonic faults are numerically less than those in California, the seismic occurrences along the New Madrid has historically been more damaging. “[W]e know what the trigger mechanism is for the San Andreas system [in California] – its location on the edge of a tectonic plate,” says Roy Van Arsdale, professor of Geology at the University of Memphis. “We don’t know yet what the trigger mechanism is for the New Madrid system.” Arsdale is an expert on the New Madrid seismic zone and has worked in the private sector oil industry for companies such as Standard Oil of California and the Union Carbide Corporation. The history of quake activity in the Mississippi River area is calculated within the archaeological record to be no more than 64,000 years. Archaeological evidence indicates a large earthquake series around 300 AD, 900 AD, and 1450 AD. Within recorded history, the New Madrid seismic zone reports four of the largest earthquakes in North American recorded history. The greatest seismicity occurred from December 1811 and February 1812. Reelfoot Lake and the 1811-1812: New Madrid Earthquake and Aftershocks The New Madrid seismic zone is beneath the continental crust of American heartland, with its heartbeat at a location called Reelfoot Rift. Popular history says that the Reelfoot Lake was formed when the region subsided after the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–1812, and that the Mississippi River flowed backward for 10–24 hours to fill it. The oldest bald cypress tree in Reelfoot Lake shows tree ring fractures with subsequent rapid growing after 1811-1812. The tree ring records in Reelfoot extend back to 1682 AD. In the winter of 1811-12, what is now known as west Tennessee was Chickasaw Indian Territory. On December 16, 1811 at 2:15 a.m. (0815 UTC) in the central Mississippi Valley an earthquake of M 8.2 started at the sparsely populated epicenter at what is now northeast Arkansas. Written historical reports and records indicate that in Charleston, South Carolina houses shook on December 16, 1811 and in Lebanon, Ohio, families fled their homes. At New Madrid, Missouri, it is reported that trees were knocked down and riverbanks collapsed. Furniture and windows were reported to have been shaken at the capital city, Washington, D.C. The quake made church bells ring in Richmond, Virginia; New York City; and Boston, Massachusetts. Subsequent aftershocks of M 8.1 occurred six hours later. On January 23, 1812 the New Madrid region underneath Missouri reported an M 7.8. Two weeks later, on February 7, 1812 at 4:45 a.m. (0945 UTC) an M 8.3 was reported to have simply destroyed New Madrid, Missouri. Houses in St. Louis, Missouri were also destroyed or damaged severely. Historical commentators Johnston and Schweig reported that these were shocks from the Reelfoot Fault. Aftershocks followed for several years. Since the 1811-1812 earthquake along the New Madrid Fault, the strongest earthquake occurred on October 31, 1895, at M 6.6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Its epicenter was at Charleston, Missouri. It is said that this earthquake made waterfalls along the Mississippi River and that the river waters flowed backwards. FEMA Warns of Future Quakes: Earthquake Disaster Preparedness In a report filed in November 2008, The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in “the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States,” further predicting “widespread and catastrophic” damage across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and particularly Tennessee. On February 10, 2010 at approximately 4:00 a.m., an M 4.3 earthquake – later downgraded by the USGS to M 3.8 – was felt by Chicago residents along the New Madrid Fault that runs through central Illinois, with no reported damages. Chile and Haiti recently experienced earthquakes. According to the Associated Press, Haitian deaths amount to about 230,000 and Chilean deaths are at about 900. Chile was more prepared than Haiti. Northern California and Armenia also had 6.9-7.1 earthquakes in recent history. Armenia was not prepared, California was prepared. In California 62 people died. In Armenia 25,000 people died. It is said that the population along the New Madrid Fault is more prepared than Armenia, Chile, and Haiti, but not as well prepared as California for a future earthquake. Disaster preparedness is a choice that a community makes. Preparedness planning includes innovation in building construction, community survival drills, and preparedness on surviving without the luxuries of electricity, running faucet water, or even basic shelter from the environment. General disaster preparedness planning by communities is the key to minimizing deaths, injuries, and economic loss in earthquakes. Further Reading: Odum, J.K., et al. (1995). /High-resolution, shallow, seismic reflection surveys of the northwest Reelfoot rift boundary near Marston, Missouri/ [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1538-P]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. Boyd, K.F. (1995). /Geomorphic evidence of deformation in the northern part of the New Madrid seismic zone/ [U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1538-R]. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis (studies and reports on central U.S. earthquakes). ceri.memphis.edu * New Madrid NMSZ – /United States Geological Survey/ * The Great Earthquake at New Madrid (1877) – /United States Geological Survey/ * Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee – /Jeremy Atherton, 2001/ * Wabash and New Madrid Seismic Zone – /United States Geological Survey/ * 1895 Earthquake Impact – /USGS Professional Paper 1527/