EARTHQUAKE (Article) - 4/20/2008 9:52:37 AM
*smiles* from someone that lived in Los Angeles for 30 yrs, and rode out more than one of these! Your recent earthquake was from the New Madrid Fault. You might find this interesting: Copied from an article about "earth changesby Mitch Battros"
"A turn of the century earthquake, the New Madrid fault system was responsible for the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake and has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes on an average of every 300 to 500 years. On February 7, 1812, the New Madrid Earthquake measured a 7.9 magnitude; epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri. The area of New Madrid was destroyed. Near by St. Louis, Missouri, many houses were damaged severely, and their chimneys were thrown down.
The meizoseismal area was characterized by general ground warping, ejections, fissuring, severe landslides, and caving of stream banks.
Large areas sank into the Earth, fissures opened, lakes permanently drained, new lakes were formed, and forests were destroyed over an area of 150,000 acres (600 km). Many houses at New Madrid were thrown down. "Houses, gardens, and fields were swallowed up" one source notes. But fatalities and damage were low, because the area was sparsely settled.
The earthquakes were felt as far away as New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, where church-bells rang. It has been recorded this earthquake was so powerful; people witnessed the mighty Mississippi River rolled back on itself, then literally changed course. Because of the change in the course of the Mississippi River, land was cut off from counties by the river and wound up on the other side of the new riverbed, on the other side of the Mississippi. The settlement of Reverie, Tennessee, in Tipton County was cut off and placed on the western bank of the Mississippi River on the Arkansas side.
Irony Too Weighted to Be Considered Coincidence
A study released just yesterday told of an exaggerated danger viewed by some seismologist related to a future major eruption in the New Madrid and Charleston, South Carolina zones in the Midwestern and Southern parts of the United States. Seismologist Seth Stein of Northwestern University found that the seismic hazard maps of the New Madrid and Charleston areas looked a lot less dire than current predictions for the regions. I think he's changed his mind as of this morning.
