New Madrid Seismic Zone?

[JD Spydo]

In the past 6 months or so I've been cruising through several different websites and have seen that Seismic (earthquake) activity has really ramped upward recently. Even on a global basis I'm hearing of earthquake activity far more in the past year or so much more than I can ever remember.

We have one of the biggest and worst Fault Zones in the entire USA relatively close to where I live known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The core area or the heart of the New Madrid Seismic Zone is located mainly in the "Boot Heel" area of Missouri but could potentially affect up to 10 states close by. I also realize that the New Madrid Fault Zone affects many other people here in Spyderville as well>> I know of at least 6 of you who live relatively close to that Zone. One guy who is a retired scientist who used to work for the USG named Stan Deyo maintains a website ( standeyo.com) with lots of information on it in regards to earthquake activity. He has recently increased his reporting on the New Madrid Seismic Zone quite a bit over the past year. They've said that Kansas City, Missouri area where I live will not at all be immune to a major quake from this New Madrid Seismic Zone.

This is no joke or conspiracy theory or hoax I can assure all of you. The New Madrid Seismic Zone is really a problem all Americans should be made aware of. However I don't see the mainstream news media hardly saying anything about it . When this fault went haywire back in 1811 and 1812 it did some extremely horrific damage. It even caused the Mississippi River to run backwards for close to 3 days. It was recorded that it even caused church bells to ring in Boston MASS USA. Just wondering if anyone here is knowledgeable about geology and/or seismic activity. This ain't no joke folks this is something to take seriously. This is a time where knowledge can be power and might even save your life. I really feel bad for anyone who lives in that immediate area>> particularly in the city of Memphis TN USA.

I really would like to talk to anyone who knows more details about this potential nightmare.

[SF Native]

That earthquake on the new Madrid fault was one of the largest magnitude earthquake ever recorded on US soil. Largest on continental US.

The 1965 earthquake in Alaska was bigger, it lasted 4 1/2 minutes and some larger sections of towns dropped into the water and disappeared.

The west coast is on the edge of the techtonic plate and really fractured. The fractures contain the shaking to a more localized area. Usually 50 miles or so. New Madrid is a rift fault and the soil is one large plate in all directions so the shaking can travel much farther distances.

Here on the west coast, we generally design buildings much better for this kind of loading. Things are tied up with rebar, metal straps, plywood, etc. really durable in shaking events. In the area right around new Madrid, the building officials know the danger and require people to designfor it. In outlying areas, maybe less so.

[JD Spydo]

That earthquake on the new Madrid fault was one of the largest magnitude earthquake ever recorded on US soil. Largest on continental US.

The 1965 earthquake in Alaska was bigger, it lasted 4 1/2 minutes and some larger sections of towns dropped into the water and disappeared.

The west coast is on the edge of the techtonic plate and really fractured. The fractures contain the shaking to a more localized area. Usually 50 miles or so. New Madrid is a rift fault and the soil is one large plate in all directions so the shaking can travel much farther distances.

Here on the west coast, we generally design buildings much better for this kind of loading. Things are tied up with rebar, metal straps, plywood, etc. really durable in shaking events. In the area right around new Madrid, the building officials know the danger and require people to designfor it. In outlying areas, maybe less so.

Very Interesting "SF Native">> I was just a small kid when that Alaska Quake took place. It's interesting that you know about the New Madrid Seismic Zone. My parents even kept the LIFE magazine with the front cover having a picture of some of the destruction of that 1965 Alaska Earthquake. That Alaska Quake of 65 also caused all sorts of tidal waves to bombard the west coast and it was a real mess when it happened.

Now you guys in sunny California have the San Andreas fault system which is also a big seismic zone too. It just behooves me as to how few people even know about the New Madrid Seismic Zone especially with the horrendous potential it has. The potential for loss of life and total destruction of property is at such a huge scale I wouldn't even know where to start as far as warning people. But few people I've talked to locally act as though they give a hoot at all.

This next big move of the New Madrid Fault will truly catch a lot of people by surprise,. Not to mention that the government is doing very little to warn the people who live in this 10 state area. Again check out the New Madrid Seismic Zone on www.standeyo.com

[Ankerson]

There is also a rather large fault under NYC....

That doesn't get talked about either...

[JD Spydo]

There is also a rather large fault under NYC....

That doesn't get talked about either...

Do you know the name of that "Fault" or "Seismic Zone"? Someone mentioned to me about a Fault close to the metropolitan New York City area but I've never heard a name for it.

That would probably be the equivalent of a nuclear weapon being deployed considering the potential for damage and loss of life in a city of that size and scope. That gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

[Ankerson]

There is also a rather large fault under NYC....

That doesn't get talked about either...

Do you know the name of that "Fault" or "Seismic Zone"? Someone mentioned to me about a Fault close to the metropolitan New York City area but I've never heard a name for it.

That would probably be the equivalent of a nuclear weapon being deployed considering the potential for damage and loss of life in a city of that size and scope. That gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

Don't remember the name, I just have known about for a long time.

Oh it would be unbelievable, NYC would be basically flattened...

[SF Native]

There is also a rather large fault under NYC....

That doesn't get talked about either...

Do you know the name of that "Fault" or "Seismic Zone"? Someone mentioned to me about a Fault close to the metropolitan New York City area but I've never heard a name for it.

That would probably be the equivalent of a nuclear weapon being deployed considering the potential for damage and loss of life in a city of that size and scope. That gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

Don't remember the name, I just have known about for a long time.

Oh it would be unbelievable, NYC would be basically flattened...

Not necessarily. The big sky scrapers are designed for high winds. Those loads might be higher than the design quake loads. Also, quakes are hard on stiff structures and brittle materials. Masonry and brick are the worst. Steel and wood fare better.

[Ankerson]

There is also a rather large fault under NYC....

That doesn't get talked about either...

Do you know the name of that "Fault" or "Seismic Zone"? Someone mentioned to me about a Fault close to the metropolitan New York City area but I've never heard a name for it.

That would probably be the equivalent of a nuclear weapon being deployed considering the potential for damage and loss of life in a city of that size and scope. That gives me the creeps just thinking about it.

Don't remember the name, I just have known about for a long time.

Oh it would be unbelievable, NYC would be basically flattened...

Not necessarily. The big sky scrapers are designed for high winds. Those loads might be higher than the design quake loads. Also, quakes are hard on stiff structures and brittle materials. Masonry and brick are the worst. Steel and wood fare better.

MOST of NYC is Masonry and Brick... As are MOST of the Northern Cities... And the ones in the Mid West etc.

[James Y]

If an earthquake happened in NYC, hopefully it would be sometime after the Indian Point nuclear power plant is closed in 2021. Otherwise it would be even worse.

Jim

[rangefinder]

There's also the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) that runs about 600 miles from southern BC (Canada) to northern CA (USA): https://pnsn.org/outreach/earthquakesources/csz

The CSZ has a 9.0+ event every 400-600 years. It's been about 300 years since the last one, so it's just a matter of when (not if) the next one happens. It could be tomorrow or it could be 300 years from now.

The CSZ does occasionally get some press coverage. Back in 2016, there was a massive multi-state/multi-agency exercise (search for "Cascadia Rising" if you want to read the press coverage and after-action reports) to test the response to a 9.0+ CSZ quake and tsunami. The results were dismal. One summary estimated that about half of the hospitals, fire/police stations, airports and freeways in the quake/tsunami damage zone would be damaged so bad that they'd be unusable after the event. There would likely be thousands killed and possibly millions injured.

The key take-away from the 2016 exercise is pretty simple: You're on your own. The authorities will be completely overwhelmed. The National Guard, FEMA, Red Cross, and similar groups will be deployed, but they'll be unable to deal with a disaster of this scale.

There were lots of recommendations made after the 2016 exercise. There's another big exercise tentatively scheduled for June 2022 that will test if those changes were implemented and if they made any difference. The 2022 exercise is supposed to be bigger and involve emergency management agencies in Canada, ID, and AK as well as WA and OR.

[Naperville]

Global List of Fault Zones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fault_zones


NY Fault Zone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarendon ... ult_system

[JD Spydo]

There's also the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) that runs about 600 miles from southern BC (Canada) to northern CA (USA): https://pnsn.org/outreach/earthquakesources/csz

The key take-away from the 2016 exercise is pretty simple: You're on your own. The authorities will be completely overwhelmed. The National Guard, FEMA, Red Cross, and similar groups will be deployed, but they'll be unable to deal with a disaster of this scale.

Glad you pointed that out about the Cascade range and their Fault Zone also making noise these days. I've been hearing as much about that Seismic Zone as I have about the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

You point about being on your own if a major earthquake of that magnitude takes place>> There is just no way any governmental agency even well intended could help that many people in peril. The looting and barbarism would be totally out of control and make hurricane Katrina look small by comparison. Truly it's no longer a matter of "IF", it is now a matter of "WHEN" either one of these Fault Zones goes bunkers

Keep in mind that the New Madrid Fault when it went haywire back in the early 1800s it truly effected almost the entire eastern part of the USA in various locations. Sure those Fault Zones in California and the Cascade area are also full of bad potential but this New Madrid Fault could cost over a million people their lives in a very short time. There most certainly should be more warning than what we are getting through the mainstream media IMO.

[SF Native]

There's also the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) that runs about 600 miles from southern BC (Canada) to northern CA (USA): https://pnsn.org/outreach/earthquakesources/csz

The key take-away from the 2016 exercise is pretty simple: You're on your own. The authorities will be completely overwhelmed. The National Guard, FEMA, Red Cross, and similar groups will be deployed, but they'll be unable to deal with a disaster of this scale.

Glad you pointed that out about the Cascade range and their Fault Zone also making noise these days. I've been hearing as much about that Seismic Zone as I have about the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

You point about being on your own if a major earthquake of that magnitude takes place>> There is just no way any governmental agency even well intended could help that many people in peril. The looting and barbarism would be totally out of control and make hurricane Katrina look small by comparison. Truly it's no longer a matter of "IF", it is now a matter of "WHEN" either one of these Fault Zones goes bunkers

Keep in mind that the New Madrid Fault when it went haywire back in the early 1800s it truly effected almost the entire eastern part of the USA in various locations. Sure those Fault Zones in California and the Cascade area are also full of bad potential but this New Madrid Fault could cost over a million people their lives in a very short time. There most certainly should be more warning than what we are getting through the mainstream media IMO.

Couple further points:
Earthquake shaking is the worst near the fault and less farther away. The energy moves through the ground like waves. Some areas have amplification and other areas are shadowed from the effects. It’s really random. We have seen some streets with no damage except one house in the middle of the street has a crack right down the middle. Really weird.
The last 2 big ones in California (1989 Loma prieta and 1994 northrige) only have about 60-70 deaths. Freeways collapse, damage to homes, etc but only a few deaths. Many are stone or bricks falling off buildings and hitting people. Just bad luck. In California we have only been designing and preparing for earthquakes since the mid 70’s and 90% of the houses were built before that. Lightweight wood houses perform pretty good. Big old brown stones might be very different as Ankerson pointed out. Totally true.
Last, even in California where earthquakes are known, most people don’t really care or want to spend money to stay safe. It’s crazy. Consider I had a client who purchased a big old historic home in an amazing location for $7 million. We designed a remodel for him. The estimated cost of the remodel was another $7 million. The one thing I couldn’t get him to do was rebuild the brick walls of his bedroom. He would sleep 8 hours a day under a seismic death trap but it was not a high priority. I explained it many times. Just wouldn’t do it. And he had money to do it, obviously. Blows my mind.

[The Deacon]

And then there's the Yellowstone super volcano.

[Naperville]

And then there's the Yellowstone super volcano.

The Yellowstone issue will take out 10 to 15 states with ash and noxious lethal gas.

[JD Spydo]

And then there's the Yellowstone super volcano.

Yeah I've heard that same guy I mentioned i.e. Stan Deyo say that Yellowstone is essentially a Super Volcano. It would make Mt. St. Helen's look like a kid's cap gun if it ever blew off. I think it was back in the 50s or 60s I forget which but one of my older relatives was there visiting the park and they were in the middle of a big Earthquake right there at Yellowstone. So it makes me wonder if it doesn't have both problems looming.

OK I just looked it up. It was called the Hebgen Lake Earthquake of August of 1959. My dad's oldest sister with her family was visiting the park and they were in the middle of that earthquake. It affected Idaho, Montana and of course Wyoming. To the best of my memory I think it also did something to alter Yellowstone Lake as well. But I was just a small kid when that happened but all my relatives talked about it for years.

Yellowstone is a powder keg that could blow any time I'm sure. Not sure if it would be worse than another major shake up of the New Madrid Zone or not but it would be bad for sure.

[SF Native]

My favorite earthquake fact:
The Richter scale numbers are the amount of energy released. A long earthquake (4 1/2 minutes) like the 1964 Alaska quake would have less violent shaking than a short quake of the same energy like the north ridge quake that was only 20 seconds. North ridge was so violent that the lateral ground force was 1.8 times the force of gravity and the vertical was more than the force of gravity. Essentially, that small section of neighborhood was completely weightless for a short amount of time. It would be like being in space.

[James Y]

Even though I live in CA, the biggest quake I’ve ever experienced happened on November 14, 1986, in Taipei, Taiwan. It was 7.7 on the Richter scale. It wasn’t as destructive as many quakes, such as the 1999 Taiwan earthquake, or the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in CA, but it was scary. I recall being woken by it, and the bed I was on was shaking and moved a bit across the floor. The walls of the building were swaying and looked almost ‘rubbery’. I heard a roaring sound and glass in other buildings shattering. After seconds passed, it finally stopped, but while it was happening I was frozen, wondering if I should try to run downstairs (I was on the 6th floor of my building), or if the stairs would collapse under me. I stayed frozen lying on the bed until it was over.

Jim

[JD Spydo]

Even though I live in CA, the biggest quake I’ve ever experienced happened on November 14, 1986, in Taipei, Taiwan. It was 7.7 on the Richter scale. It wasn’t as destructive as many quakes, such as the 1999 Taiwan earthquake, or the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in CA, but it was scary. I recall being woken by it, and the bed I was on was shaking and moved a bit across the floor. The walls of the building were swaying and looked almost ‘rubbery’. I heard a roaring sound and glass in other buildings shattering. After seconds passed, it finally stopped, but while it was happening I was frozen, wondering if I should try to run downstairs (I was on the 6th floor of my building), or if the stairs would collapse under me. I stayed frozen lying on the bed until it was over.

By your description of the Quake you were in I'm sure it was very horrific. But the studies I've done on the big New Madrid Quake of 1811 & 1812 had descriptions I had never heard before. Just to make the Mississippi River run backwards for close to 3 days had to be a series of shock waves with a G-Force that very few of us have ever experienced in modern times. I used to live along the Mississippi River and I'm here to tell you that it's a really big and massive river here in the USA. I heard that the Amazon in South America is the only one on the planet that is wider and with a bigger volume of water. And to effect that big of a river for 3 days to me is un-imaginable. The only thing I think I could compare it to would be the monsterous tsunami in Southeast Asia about 15 years ago. I heard that the elephants even instinctively went to higher ground before the waves finally hit.

[James Y]

Even though I live in CA, the biggest quake I’ve ever experienced happened on November 14, 1986, in Taipei, Taiwan. It was 7.7 on the Richter scale. It wasn’t as destructive as many quakes, such as the 1999 Taiwan earthquake, or the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes in CA, but it was scary. I recall being woken by it, and the bed I was on was shaking and moved a bit across the floor. The walls of the building were swaying and looked almost ‘rubbery’. I heard a roaring sound and glass in other buildings shattering. After seconds passed, it finally stopped, but while it was happening I was frozen, wondering if I should try to run downstairs (I was on the 6th floor of my building), or if the stairs would collapse under me. I stayed frozen lying on the bed until it was over.

By your description of the Quake you were in I'm sure it was very horrific. But the studies I've done on the big New Madrid Quake of 1811 & 1812 had descriptions I had never heard before. Just to make the Mississippi River run backwards for close to 3 days had to be a series of shock waves with a G-Force that very few of us have ever experienced in modern times. I used to live along the Mississippi River and I'm here to tell you that it's a really big and massive river here in the USA. I heard that the Amazon in South America is the only one on the planet that is wider and with a bigger volume of water. And to effect that big of a river for 3 days to me is un-imaginable. The only thing I think I could compare it to would be the monsterous tsunami in Southeast Asia about 15 years ago. I heard that the elephants even instinctively went to higher ground before the waves finally hit.

I remember hearing about the Mississippi River flowing backwards. That must have been a super-freaky thing to see. Hopefully nothing even near that magnitude will happen in the near future, anyway. I wonder if that 2011 earthquake and tsunami off Fukushima had happened where the south Asian tsunami happened, if it would have been even bigger? That particular earthquake was horrendously massive.

I heard that not only the elephants went to higher ground (IIRC that was in Thailand?) just before the Asian tsunami, but other animals as well.

Jim