New Madrid : Two Earthquakes in Mississippi 3.0 & 3.2

On May 3rd 2015, two earthquakes hit Madison County MS and indeed from Michigan down there was activity in the New Madrid zone on this date. I've never heard of an earthquake in this area before and I live a few miles from it.

New Madrid, seems to be heating up. Two years ago a friend of mine sent me an email she'd received from FEMA all Government employees received this email about being prepared for an earthquake in the Madrid fault zone. I thought, " What is going on?" Well, they seem to know something and I'm starting to pay attention after this. Stay safe.

Here's more info on this activity.

It's only a matter of time before it goes off again. I also feel it is going to happen soon. Whether it is a series of smaller/midsize quakes or a big one is the question. It doesn't have to be a big one, but for the sake of a shortage of good doom porn I am willing to put a little emphasis on a possibility of a big one.....just in case

a reply to: DaphneApollo

This is a potential serious disaster the likes of which would dwarf anything experienced in the US in a long time. One of the biggest problems with any sizable quake (say, 6.5 and up) in the areas straddled by the New Madrid Seismic Zone is liquefaction:

Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid loading. Liquefaction and related phenomena have been responsible for tremendous amounts of damage in historical earthquakes around the world.

Liquefaction occurs in saturated soils, that is, soils in which the space between individual particles is completely filled with water. This water exerts a pressure on the soil particles that influences how tightly the particles themselves are pressed together. Prior to an earthquake, the water pressure is relatively low. However, earthquake shaking can cause the water pressure to increase to the point where the soil particles can readily move with respect to each other.

It's extremely dangerous in the NMSZ

Take a look at this study:

The results indicate that Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri are most severely impacted. Illinois and Kentucky are also impacted, though not as severely as the previous three states. Nearly 715,000 buildings are damaged in the eight-state study region. About 42,000 search and rescue personnel working in 1,500 teams are required to respond to the earthquakes. Damage to critical infrastructure (essential facilities, transportation and utility lifelines) is substantial in the 140 impacted counties near the rupture zone, including 3,500 damaged bridges and nearly 425,000 breaks and leaks to both local and interstate pipelines. Approximately 2.6 million households are without power after the earthquake. Nearly 86,000 injuries and fatalities result from damage to infrastructure. Nearly 130 hospitals are damaged and most are located in the impacted counties near the rupture zone. There is extensive damage and substantial travel delays in both Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, thus hampering search and rescue as well as evacuation. Moreover roughly 15 major bridges are unusable. Three days after the earthquake, 7.2 million people are still displaced and 2 million people seek temporary shelter. Direct economic losses for the eight states total nearly $300 billion, while indirect losses may be at least twice this amount.

Impact of New Madrid Seismic Zone Earthquakes on the Central USA, Vol. 1 and 2

That was issued in 2009, I think that if we reexamined the data today, we'd find the dollar losses quite a bit more.

That is one scary beast we've got in the middle of our country and no knowing when it will decide to rumble again, using current methodologies and techniques as the USGS does.



Don't forget to add the map of nuclear power plants to the NMSZ map:



Makes you feel all warm and squishy inside, doesn't it?

I worked directly with TEMA for a while, let me tell you. they are really, really paying close attention to the NMSZ. there are several "experts" in the field constantly monitoring this region. A new reelfoot lake, and landmass displacement will be the best of the story as most structures east of Shelby county have little standards, made of low quality materials, constructed with low skilled immigrants...not a good outcome. I am prepared more than most, but the melting pot of the south does not need any shaking goin on....

I haven't been around here lately, so I'm catching up... maybe it's just the sudden influx of information, but it seems like there have been lots of earthquakes in the last few weeks. Is that just an impression based on the fact that I was away or has the number of earthquakes increased a little? Could someone please correct me? Thank you.

I was about to post in here and just felt another small quake in Dallas, TX... that little spot in Irving just moved again.

Thanks all for the great info you've given.

Something else I just found is that the Jackson, MS Coliseum sits right on top of an extinct volcano.

Jackson's Hidden Volcano

Excerpt from article above:

Now rest assured, the Jackson Volcano last erupted about 75 million years ago (determined by analyzing core samples drilled from the dome), 10 million years before the Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction event in which it is theorized that a 6-mile diameter asteroid struck the earth off the coast of what is now the Yucatan Peninsula leaving a crater over 100-miles wide, called the Chicxulub crater (pronounced Chick-shoo-loob, it's a Maya word that roughly translates as "tail of the devil"). This event lead to the extinction of about 70% of all life. Although extinct itself, the volcano is here, and it has company.

"The Mississippi River follows what is known as the Mississippi Embayment," David tells me. "This is a syncline, or a trough-shaped fold in the earth, that stretches from Illinois south to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. The Jackson Volcano is on the east side of this syncline and the Monroe Uplift, another Cretaceous volcano, is on the west side. They're kind of symmetrical. Further north is the Murfreesboro, Arkansas Volcano. And then, there's a buried volcano at the mouth of the Mississippi River called the Door Point Volcano. So there's a ring of volcanoes around what's now this slumped syncline. And the New Madrid Fault is part of that over-all feature.

I post this because he spoke of the magma chamber in Yellowstone and the Volcano under the Pacific offshore from Oregon. Hope this does not wake up as well. This could be a catastrophe for the whole country if either the Yellowstone and/or the New Madrid Fault Zone goes off.

I can only say, I hope neither happens.

originally posted by: DaphneApollo
I've never heard of an earthquake in this area before and I live a few miles from it.

The most recent strong earthquake on the New Madrid fault was the Mt. Carmel, Illinois Earthquake of 2008, which was a M 5.4.

The most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in the United States happened on the New Madrid fault back in 1811-1812. Here's a great documentary on what happened back then, and what could happen when the next one(s) arrive: