Living in California, we have been prone to earthquakes courtesy of the various fault lines.
I have experienced the largest in California within the past few decades but while many think California would produce larger earthquakes, a big worry is the fault line in New Madrid, Missouri.
A week before Christmas of 1811, three intraplate earthquakes occurred ranging from 7.2-8.2 and a 7.4 aftershock on the same day. And then again in January and February 1812.
This earthquake was the most powerful earthquake to hit east of the Rocky Mountains.
John Bradbury, a fellow of the Linnean Society, wrote about his experience in his book “Travels in the Interior of America in the Years 1809, 1820 and 1811”.
Bradbury wrote, “After supper, we went to sleep as usual: about ten o’clock, and in the night I was awakened by the most tremendous noise, accompanied by an agitation of the boat so violent, that it appeared in danger of upsetting … I could distinctly see the river as if agitated by a storm; and although the noise was inconceivably loud and terrific, I could distinctly hear the crash of falling trees, and the screaming of the wild fowl on the river, but found that the boat was still safe at her moorings. By the time we could get to our fire, which was on a large flag in the stern of the boat, the shock had ceased; but immediately the perpendicular banks, both above and below us, began to fall into the river in such vast masses, as nearly to sink our boat by the swell they occasioned … At day-light we had counted twenty-seven shocks”.
In an interview for Lorenzo Dow’s Journal from 1849, Eliza Bryan said in her eyewitness account, “On the 16th of December, 1811, about two o’clock, a.m., we were visited by a violent shock of an earthquake, accompanied by a very awful noise resembling loud but distant thunder, but more hoarse and vibrating, which was followed in a few minutes by the complete saturation of the atmosphere, with sulphurious vapor, causing total darkness. The screams of the affrighted inhabitants running to and fro, not knowing where to go, or what to do—the cries of the fowls and beasts of every species—the cracking of trees falling, and the roaring of the Mississippi— the current of which was retrograde for a few minutes, owing as is supposed, to an irruption in its bed— formed a scene truly horrible”.
So, what caused the earthquake?
Experts believe it is a result from a fault that lies dormant far underground due to when Earth had formed a single large landmass (which began with Vaalbara during the Eoarchean-Mesoarchan era). Around the Stenian-Tonian era was Rodinia, when the supercontinent Columbia began to breakup. During Rodinia, there is a theory that it was a time of global cooling and that Earth was literally a snowball.
But throughout history, there is many layers of soil and magma and faults were reactivated.
But for the most part, throughout the lifetime of Earth, there are areas where tectonic plates collide with each other. That’s how continents were separated, islands and volcanoes, mountains were formed. While it’s not a quick process, through thousands of years, these plates are moving slow motion and constantly changing shape.
In one hypothesis, a new supercontinent known as Pangaea Proxima) that North America in 250 million years from now will collide with Africa, South America will wrap around the southern tip of Africa and Antarctica will reverse direction and instead of being in the North Pole, will return to the South Pole.
So, what about New Madrid today?
After the major earthquakes of 1811-1812, there have been minor earthquakes but having been so quiet in over a hundred years, there is worry that “the big one” may happen again. No one knows when but what we know is from a November 2008 report by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency which warns that a serious earthquake in New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in “the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States”.
So, think about this. Back in 1811-1812, while settlements were sparse, they were still destroyed. There was significant damage and even altered the flow of the Mississippi River. The seismic zone is active with 200 small earthquakes a year.
While damage was high in 1811-1812, if it was to happen in 2023 or in the future, where the population has greatly increased, land now has many buildings and infrastructure, a major earthquake would not just be catastrophic for Missouri, but also nearby states in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
Water distribution, transportation and other vital infrastructure would be widespread and catastrophic with an expected high death toll and many thousands of people will be displaced.
There are no predictions for when an earthquake will happen. Other countries have implemented earthquake alerts and there have been trainings in schools. But the state government response is much different depending on the area.
With something so big, people in the area should be prepared and continued to be educated. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, it’s a matter of when it will happen. And when it does happen, hopefully many are prepared, wherever in the world you live with a history of major earthquakes.
