Midwest quakes
http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/
UPDATED 3-18-11
next earthquake in US
ANOTHER 4.7 QUAKE HITS BEFORE STORM DOES
2-27-11
A 3.5 QUAKE OCCURRED ON 3-1-11
If you felt some swaying before Sunday night's heavy windstorm hit St. Louis, you're not alone.
Experts say a 4.7-magnitude earthquake in Arkansas on Sunday night was felt here in St. Louis — about a half-hour before a fast-moving storm blew through with hail and 70 mph winds.
Jessica Sigala, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the Arkansas quake hit about 35 miles north of Little Rock at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Sigala said it was felt in at least five other states. More than 7,000 people, including some in St. Louis and as far away as Tennessee, have told the center they felt the quake.
Those who felt it in the St. Louis area reported it as an intensity of 2, which is very weak. It may been have felt by people here who live on upper floors, she said.
"That's actually normal," she said. "You can see that in a lot of earthquakes, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. The farther you get from the earthquake, from the epicenter, it is normal to feel it in high-rise buildings."
More people perhaps felt it because it was at night and they were winding down, Sigala said.
Coincidentally, that was about the time that St. Louis television weather forecasters were flashing colorful warnings about heavy winds and possible tornadoes approaching the metro area.
At 11 p.m. in Franklin County, for example, the National Weather Service says they were getting reports of large hail and a funnel cloud near the town of Villa Ridge. At the same time, hail and heavy wind gusts were in St. Charles County.
Kelly-Kate Pease, who lives in a Central West End high rise, said she felt her bed start to sway at 11 p.m. She said she was alarmed that winds were causing that movement at her condo, while weather forecasters were saying the storm was still 30 minutes away.
Turns out, it wasn't the storm's winds that were making her condo sway. It was the earthquake in Arkansas, Sigala says.
Copyright 2011 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. All rights reserved.
Posted in Metro, Illinois, Stcharles on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 9:01 am Updated: 11:03 am. | Tags: National Weather Service, U.s. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, Arkansas Earthquake, St. Louis Storms,
4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Arkansas Today
Feb 18-2011
The U.S. Geological Survey has reported 29 earthquakes in the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy since Sunday with 16 occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5.
A 4.7 magnitude quake was felt in Faulkner County just before 5 a.m. today. The Associated Press said more than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months, since October 2010. USGS Engineers and Geologists are still amiss to find the cause.
"The cause is still a mystery to us", said a USGS spokesman,"but we are working on it".
2-16-11 - DREAM - I was on my computer in Wisconsin somewhere. I had three IM's going because of a huge earthquake that shook a largee area in the midwest - probably the New Madrid.
We didn't lose electricity, which was a good thing, and I could communicate with other people who had experienced the same thing I just had - and we found out that the United States was completelhy severed in half at the Mississippi River.
When daylight came, I went outside to find out what things looked like and went to the Mississippi River divide and to my shock, the river was actually at least 1,000 feet lower from where I stood and looked very small at the bottom of the cliff that now divided Wisconsin from Minnesota. I was stunned to see this because I've been to that spot before, and Wisconsin and Minnesota were divided by the Missippi at that point but had been equal in altitude before.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There would be no way to get from one side of the river to the other now except to fly or take a fast boat if one still existed at the bottom of the cliff.
I saw no people, just lots of trees. The trees on the ot her side of the river looked very tiny in comparison to those on my side of the river because they were so far down now.
Dee Finney
here is the current earthquake map.
arkansas quakes 2011
link to maps: http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/
arkansa closeup 2011
Arkansas closeup
A noted geologist from the University of Missouri-Columbia says his research of earthquakes in China may hold clues as to where the next big earthquake will hit in the Midwest.
This year marks the bicentennial of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, which are the biggest earthquakes known to have occurred in the central U.S.
But if Mian Liu, professor of geological sciences at the University of Missouri is correct, the next big quake will occur someplace other than the New Madrid fault system.
Professor Liu examined records from China, where earthquakes have been recorded and described for the past 2,000 years. Surprisingly, Liu
"In north China, where large earthquakes occur relatively frequently, not a single one repeated on the same fault segment in the past 2,000 years," Liu said. "So we need to look at the big picture of interacting faults, rather than focusing on the faults where large earthquakes have occurred in the recent past."
Liu and fellow researchers Seth Stein, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University, and Hui Wang, a Chinese Earthquake Administration researcher, believe the New Madrid quake may have loaded increasing stresses on the Wabash Valley Seismic fault system. It extends through the lower Wabash Valley, near the borders of Southern Illinois and Southwestern Indiana.
"The two areas seem likely to be mechanically coupled in that stress transfer following large earthquakes in one could affect earthquake occurrence in the other," Liu wrote. "Numerical modeling indicates that stress transfer following the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes may be loading faults in the Wabash Zone."
The last major quake to occur along the Wabash Seismic Zone was on April 18, 2008, when a magnitude 5.2 quake centered near Belmont, Ill., was felt across a wide area of the Tri-State.
Researchers are now using GPS to test their theory.
"GPS measurements in the past two decades have found no significant strain in the New Madrid area," Liu said.
© 2011 Evansville Courier & Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Report FROM New Madrid Fault area: The surface rupture of the roads and highways is out of control.
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 11:19 AM
Subject: New Madrid quake is next
One of my psychic friends says the New Madrid area is the next event that will happen. And if it does, then all
that oily Gulf mess will pour into the hole it leaves when the land sinks. This country deserves it...
_____________________________________________
http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/earth_changes/news.php?q=1277830900
Is anyone following the tectonic pressure ....
Hello Raye;
I live on the New Madrid fault. And I can tell you this. The surface rupture of the roads and highways is out of control. Also, everyday of
the week, the structure of my moms home is "cracking" and shifting. You can hear the walls and the surface crack.
Nearby is a dollar general store. In that parking lot there are 3 flagpoles that "vibrate" violently. (not shaking from wind) Each and
everyday, the roads "blow" up potholes. U.S. 41 is ruptured severely.
Interstate 65 is also badly damaged. They keep trying to repave them but it doesn't work. The Cline Ave bridge at points is closing. This bridge
and off ramps leads right into Inland steel and LTV steel and BP Amoco. So far, I believe 5-7 bridges have been shut down or are scheduled for
closing because they are unsafe.
I monitor the earthquakes daily. And as you know there are far too many happening too quickly.
I believe the general public has been misled. In my opinion, the 2012 shift is happening now, but everyone has been conditioned to believe
that they still have time to prepare for the main event. Thats b.s. It doesn't happen all at once.
In Momence Illinois, some of the buildings are beginning to "sink". In Cedar Lake Indiana, the same is happening.
The bottom line is this; Buildings are cracking, parking lots can't be fixed, roads and bridges are closing every week, sidewalks are sinking
and sinkholes are opening everywhere. At time day or night, you can literally feel the earth "vibrate" below your feet.
I'm in Northwest Indiana, and I believe we are about to get hit with a earthquake of biblical proportions. We are surrounded by propane,
natural gas and BP Amoco refineries.
And, I'm more than concerned what will happen when the new madrid erupts.
best regards
Bob
Newly Found Fault Could Cause US Quake
By JON GAMBRELL
,
AP
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Jan. 23, 2009) - A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said Wednesday.
Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.
This is a Mississippi River island about 15 miles southeast of Marianna, Ark.,
where a scientists said he has discovered a fault that could produce a magnitude 7 earthquake
Acres of cotton fields cover the fault west of Marianna, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, but stretches of fine sand mixed with fertile soil gave away the fault's location, Al-Shukri said. Liquefied sand bubbled up through cracks in the earth, while ground radar and digs showed vents that let the sand reach the surface, he said.
The fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history. Such temblors cause massive destruction in their wake.
"This is a very, very dangerous (area) at risk of earthquake," Al-Shukri said. "When you talk about (magnitude) 7 and plus, this is going to be a major disaster."
Al-Shukri did not identify a time frame for the potential earthquake
Scientists have pinpointed a set of faults in the Midwest
that cause severe earthquakes every 500 years. The
quakes are so powerful that they can cause the
Mississippi River to temporarily flow backwards.
Arkansas Quakes Could Offer Warning
By JON GAMBRELL,
AP
posted: 11-28-08
filed under: National News, Natural Disasters News, Science News
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Nov. 28, 2008) - A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come.
By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.
“The potential for generating a high-magnitude earthquake is real," said Haydar Al-Shukri, director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Five earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.2 to 2.7 have hit central Arkansas this month. Quakes with a magnitude of 2.5 to 3 are typically the smallest felt by people.
While hundreds of earthquakes occur each year, including several in Arkansas, the location of the recent ones give Al-Shukri pause. Arkansas quakes generally occur in the state's northeast corner, part of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, where three temblors with magnitudes of around 8 struck during the winter of 1812 and smaller ones continue today.
But central Arkansas does not have any seismic history, Al-Shukri said.
"It is abnormal. It is significant," he said. "We need to carefully watch this activity."
The area does not have any permanent seismograph, so researchers asked the University of Memphis in Tennessee if they could use its portable equipment. The nearest seismographs aren't close enough to provide the detailed readings scientists need to determine what could be causing the tremors or properly locate their origin, said Scott Ausbrooks, the geohazard supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey.
"I don't know if you've looked at a map of where these events are located, but they've got a scatter on them," he said. "We're thinking this is probably the inherited error built in when you try to locate events of this small a magnitude from that far away."
Ausbrooks said officials would install the three seismographs around Magnet Cove, a Hot Spring County community near where a magnitude-2.7 earthquake hit on Nov. 1. Residents told police dispatchers they heard what sounded like an explosion.
One possible culprit could be a hydrothermal quake, caused by extremely hot fluid pushing into rocks under the surface. The hot fluid percolates into the cracks of the rocks and causes movement, Al-Shukri said.
That theory matches the geologic history of the area. Central Arkansas is home to Hot Springs, a city that grew up around its namesake spas. The springs have 143-degree waters rushing to the surface continuously.
If that's the case, the earthquakes likely wouldn't pose a drastic danger to the area, Al-Shukri said. At their strongest, such quakes reach only a magnitude of 5, the U.S. Geological Survey's threshold for "moderate."
However, if the earthquakes are caused by a previously unknown fault, that could mean a much more powerful temblor in the future. A recently discovered fault in eastern Arkansas near Marianna caused an earthquake with a magnitude of between 7.2 and 7.5 in the past 5,000 years, Al-Shukri said. That could cause widespread, heavy damage.
"Now, it's not active, but in geologist time, that's yesterday," he said.
Ausbrooks wouldn't speculate on what could be causing the earthquakes, saying he wanted to see what data the seismographs capture. However, he acknowledged an unknown fault could be running through the area.
"There are numerous faults across the state, both known and unknown," Ausbrooks said. "This area has got a lot of faults associated with it from the mountain building of the Ouachitas, but they're considered inactive."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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