Four quakes, measuring as large as 8.1, hit southeast Missouri from December 1811 to February 1812. They leveled towns and created waves on the Mississippi River so large that observers reported the water was running backward, the Survey said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=am55JSrLum88&refer=us

the above fact would indicate these large scale earthquakes come in relative rapid succession.

This quake was felt so far away, there was a 5.0 earthquake in Evansville, Indiana, but nobody felt it 400 miles away, this one was different somehow, and it was very intense along ways away. The big quake in San Francisco in 1989 was big, but it wasnt' felt 400 miles away like this one was. If this fault area in the midwest produced an 8.0 earthquake, I think it could shake an area many, many times larger than the fault along San Francisco.

These scientists are saying that, well the pressure has been released, so now we are safe, but when you hear the ice cracking, that means it's about to break, same thing with tectonic plates, when it starts cracking that means something big could slip, because now it's resting on new tension points that haven't been proven, so to speak, over the test of time.

If a quake of 8.1 hit the midwest, it would be the most significant natural event in US history, all those skyscrapers would come tumbling down in every city in the midwest. The Richter scale is sort of dumb, an 8.0 earthquake is 60 times more powerful than a 7.0 earthquake. Thus, a 7.0 earthquake is 360 times more powerful than a 5.0 earthquake.

The Richter scale is sort of dumb, an 8.0 earthquake is 60 times more powerful than a 7.0 earthquake.


The Richter Scale is not "dumb", it's logarithmic.

You just don't know how scary this is. I only live about 27 miles west of "The Big Muddy" and about 35 to 40 miles southwest of New Madrid. It is so sandy here that they say the ground here will instantly turn into quick sand since the water table is high here. You hit water for a well between 8 to 16 feet around these parts.

You just don't know how scary this is. I only live about 27 miles west of "The Big Muddy" and about 35 to 40 miles southwest of New Madrid. It is so sandy here that they say the ground here will instantly turn into quick sand since the water table is high here. You hit water for a well between 8 to 16 feet around these parts.

Wow, 3/4's of the world would literally kill to have your problem, drilling 8 feet for a well.

Here's a website on the New Madrid earthquake of 1811.

http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/richards/

In December of 1811, a the largest earthquake ever recorded in American History started. This earthquake, called the New Madrid Earthquake because of its primary location on the New Madrid Fault, near New Madrid, Missouri. From the effects of the 1811-1812 earthquakes, it can be estimated that they had a magnitude of 8.0 or higher on the not yet invented Richter scale. Large areas sank into the earth, new lakes were formed, and the Mississippi River changed its course due to the earthquakes.

this is wikipedia on the new madrid earthquakes, which confirm my suspicions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake


The New Madrid Earthquake, one of the largest earthquakes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake) ever recorded in the contiguous United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_United_States), occurred on February 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_7), 1812 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812). It got its name from its primary location in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Seismic_Zone), near New Madrid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid%2C_Missouri), Louisiana Territory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Territory) (now Missouri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri)).
This earthquake was preceded by three other major quakes: two on December 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_16), 1811 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811), and one on January 23 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_23), 1812 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812). These earthquakes destroyed approximately half the town of New Madrid. There were also numerous aftershocks in the area for the rest of that winter.
There are estimates that the earthquakes were felt strongly over 50,000 square miles (130,000 km²), and moderately across nearly one million square miles. The historic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_earthquake_of_1906), by comparison, was felt moderately over 6,000 square miles (16,000 km²).

so if we had an 8.0, along this fault, it would be felt, MORE strongly, over 10 times the area. the Chicago sky scrapers would be possibly structurally damaged if they felt the recent one that strongly.