According to some the long dormant New Madrid fault zone is re-awakening and with it the threat of powerful far reaching quakes on a magnitude equal to or greater than those in California. The findings however are being disputed with some claiming faulty readings for showing movement.
New Madrid's dynamics are largely unknown. In California, faults are easily studied because they are on the Earth's surface, where two continental plates collide. New Madrid's faults lie beneath thick sediments deposited over millions of years. Recent research also suggests the thick sediments may magnify, not dampen, the shockwaves of an earthquake.
Scientists believe the faults are a failed "rift" zone, created when Earth's crust was separating into continents. The crust fractured but did not split apart. That left a weak spot where earthquakes occur.
History shows that the New Madrid earthquakes were fearsome. In 1811 and 1812, three major quakes triggered landslides, caused the Mississippi River to flow backward, swamped boats, created a lake, leveled New Madrid, Mo., and knocked down chimneys and cabins in St. Louis and Cincinnati. The shaking caused church bells to ring in Boston.
If you live in the region I would prepare for the worst just incase Arch Johnston is right.
... via USA Today.
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