Rare 5.4mag quake that has hit the New Madrid fault line seems to have caught people by surprise. What makes this moderate quake unique is area of which it occurred. It hit at the northern end of the "New Madrid Fault".Geographic coordinates: 38.520N, 87.872W. Magnitude: 5.4 Mw. Depth: 5 km. Universal Time (UTC): 18 Apr 2008 09:36:56.
A turn of the century earthquake, the New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake and has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes on an average of every 300 to 500 years. On February 7, 1812, the New Madrid Earthquake measured a 7.9 magnitude; epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri. The area of New Madrid was destroyed. Near by St. Louis, Missouri, many houses were damaged severely, and their chimneys were thrown down. The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
Large areas sank into the Earth, fissures opened, lakes permanently drained, new lakes were formed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres (600 km). Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled.The earthquakes were felt as far away as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, where church-bells rang. It has been recorded this earthquake was so powerful; people witnessed the mighty Mississippi River rolled back on itself, then literally changed course. Because of the change in the course of the Mississippi River, land was cut off from counties by the river and wound up on the other side of the new riverbed, on the other side of the Mississippi. The settlement of Reverie, Tennessee, in Tipton County was cut off and placed on the western bank of the Mississippi River on the Arkansas side.
This happened in 1812. The next one is overdue. What will happen this time?
No comments:
Post a Comment