New Madrid Earthquake

Some of the largest earthquakes in America’s history have come from the New Madrid Fault. All of these earthquakes happened in the Mississippi Valley, and yet were felt across the East Coast. Not only were these earthquakes large, but there were also many, with over 2,000 earthquakes recorded in the central Midwest, and 6,000-10,000 earthquakes recorded in the Bootheel of Missouri, all within the timespan of 4 months. 3 of these many earthquakes are still on the list of the United States’ largest earthquakes: the first large earthquake had a magnitude of 8.1 on December 16 1811; the second had a magnitude of 7.8, and the third had a 8.8 magnitude. These large earthquakes also had a large impact on the community and the environment, causing

The New Madrid Fault is hidden under 100-200ft thick layers of river deposits. Traces of the fault in the layers erode quickly and are often covered by new deposits, making it very hard to study the fault. Therefore, most of the knowledge we have of the New Madrid Fault comes from seismograph recordings of the frequent and small earthquakes. However, it is still debated as to when the next major earthquake will happen in the area. According to statistical analysis done by paleoseismologists, the possibility of having an earthquake of 7.5-8.0 on the Richter scale is roughly

The earthquake destroyed most if not all of the New Madrid and Little Prairie, the only towns in the area. Not only were the buildings destroyed, but the land was also brutally destroyed, primarily by occurrences such as landslides, fissures, sandblows, lateral spreads, subsidence, submergence and uplift. Thus, this land became virtually useless for the subsistence agriculture of the time. The landscape became dramatically effected from these earthquakes. There were bank failures on the Mississippi and it was one of the uplifts that caused the Mississippi to flow backwards. The earthquake also liquified subsurface sediment over large areas, causing ground fissuring and violent venting of water. This liquefaction also created the sand blow, which are large eruptions of water and sand onto the ground. During these earthquakes, the sand blows formed over 10,400 square kilometers. The manmade structures that society required in order to thrive successfully were destroyed. Not only were these structures destroyed, but a large amount of people became injured. The large amount of damage caused the break up of the Little Prairie settlement, and another nearby Great Prairie settlement lost most of its success. These earthquakes weren’t just felt in New Madrid and Little Prairie, but also was responsible for minimal damage in far away places such as