1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes

Date: 16 Dec 1811 to 7 Feb 1812
Location: New Madrid, Missouri, United States

1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes

A series of 3 major earthquakes (along with many aftershocks, some as strong as the earthquakes) that rocked the eastern United States in 1811-1812. They still remain the strongest earthquakes to hit the areas East of the Mississippi. "The area of strong shaking associated with these shocks is two to three times as large as that of the 1964 Alaska earthquake and 10 times as large as that of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake." [1]This series of earthquakes is known for making the Mississippi River flow backwards, and for the creation of Reelfoot Lake in Lake County, Tennessee. ^[1]

1. December 16, 1811: (magnitude 7.5‑7.9) Epicenter in Northeast Arkansas, with a major aftershock occurring just five hours later (magnitude 7.4)
2. January 23, 1812: (Magnitude: 7.3-7.6) - Epicenter in the Missouri Bootheel, caused widespread geological damage. This one is considered to be the smallest of the three principal quakes.
3. February 7, 1812 - 3:45 a.m- (magnitude 7.5-8.0) Epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri; Several destructive shocks occurred on February 7, the last of which equaled or surpassed the magnitude of any previous event. [2] New Madrid was completely destroyed; this quake created temporary backwards flow in the Mississippi, and created waves so large Reelfoot Lake was created from obstruction of streams in present day Lake County, Tennessee.

Area of concentration

New Madrid fault range compared to San Andreas fault range

Sources

1. ↑ New Madrid Earthquakes, Wikipedia

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Bootheel Missouri Bootheel
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%9312_New_Madrid_earthquakes New Madrid Earthquakes, Wikipedia