Most Americans expect the next great earthquake in the United States to come on the west coast
But what if it strikes right down the middle of the country instead? The New Madrid fault zone is six times larger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. Back in 1811 and 1812, a series of absolutely devastating earthquakes along the New Madrid fault zone opened very deep fissures in the ground, caused the Mississippi River to run backwards in some places, and were reportedly felt as far away as Washington D.C. and Boston. They were the strongest earthquakes ever recorded east of the Rocky Mountains, and scientists tell us that it is only a matter of time before we experience similar quakes. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey has admitted that the New Madrid fault zone has the “potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought“, and the number of significant earthquakes in the middle part of the country has more than quintupled in recent years. Someday, perhaps without any warning, an absolutely massive earthquake will strike the New Madrid fault. Thousands of Americans will die, tens of thousands of structures will be completely destroyed, and millions of people will find themselves homeless.
Unlike on the west coast, buildings within the New Madrid fault zone are typically not constructed to withstand major earthquakes. If we were to see the type of earthquake that we saw a little over two centuries ago, it would be a disaster unlike anything that any of us have ever known. The following comes from WKRN, and it describes what those earthquakes back in 1811 and 1812 were like…
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
3 comments:
Boys and Girls....can you say "FRACKING"
Bring it , we need a wake up call.
Are the 1811 seismograph records on the same server as the Weather Channel reports from that year?
We are accustomed to current day technology and fail to appreciate that weather beforehand was less well documented and therefore references to it are guesstimates and reflect the opinions and goals of those making the statements. Check out placement of weather info gathering instruments in locations subject to heat generating sources.
Weather on the large scale has cyclical elements over long and short periods, and we don't yet have sufficient 'real data' to back many of the sweeping claims we see.
Buffalo run in herds; so do many scientists. It's an interesting subject and we'd all be well served by objective inquiry and research instead of fore-gone conclusions.
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