PLANETARY TREMORS: Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake Near Trinidad, Colorado - USGS! [MAPS + TECTONIC SUMMARY]

USGS earthquake location.

February 7, 2016 - COLORADO, UNITED STATES - The United States Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 near Trinidad Saturday afternoon.

The quake hit 26 miles west-southwest of Trinidad around 4:09 p.m., according to the USGS.

USGS shakemap intensity.

Time

1. 2016-02-06 23:09:10 (UTC)
2. 2016-02-06 18:09:10 (UTC-05:00) in your timezone
3. Times in other timezones

Nearby Cities

1. 42km (26mi) WSW of Trinidad, Colorado
2. 134km (83mi) SSW of Pueblo, Colorado
3. 142km (88mi) S of Pueblo West, Colorado
4. 152km (94mi) S of Canon City, Colorado
5. 177km (110mi) NNE of Santa Fe, New Mexico

- Denver Post.

Earthquakes in the Stable Continental Region

Natural Occurring Earthquake Activity
Most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England, in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and elsewhere. However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake.

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area more than ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. It would not be unusual for a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in eastern or central North America to be felt by a significant percentage of the population in many communities more than 100 km (60 mi) from its source. A magnitude 5.5 earthquake in eastern or central North America might be felt by much of the population out to more than 500 km (300 mi) from its source. Earthquakes east of the Rockies that are centered in populated areas and large enough to cause damage are, similarly, likely to cause damage out to greater distances than earthquakes of the same magnitude centered in western North America.

USGS seismic map.

Most earthquakes in North America east of the Rockies occur as faulting within bedrock, usually miles deep. Few earthquakes east of the Rockies, however, have been definitely linked to mapped geologic faults, in contrast to the situation at plate boundaries such as California's San Andreas fault system, where scientists can commonly use geologic evidence to identify a fault that has produced a large earthquake and that is likely to produce large future earthquakes. Scientists who study eastern and central North America earthquakes often work from the hypothesis that modern earthquakes occur as the result of slip on preexisting faults that were formed in earlier geologic eras and that have been reactivated under the current stress conditions. The bedrock of Eastern North America is, however, laced with faults that were active in earlier geologic eras, and few of these faults are known to have been active in the current geologic era. In most areas east of the Rockies, the likelihood of future damaging earthquakes is currently estimated from the frequencies and sizes of instrumentally recorded earthquakes or earthquakes documented in historical records.

USGS seismic hazard map.

Induced Seismicity
As is the case elsewhere in the world, there is evidence that some central and eastern North America earthquakes have been triggered or caused by human activities that have altered the stress conditions in earth's crust sufficiently to induce faulting. Activities that have induced felt earthquakes in some geologic environments have included impoundment of water behind dams, injection of fluid into the earth's crust, extraction of fluid or gas, and removal of rock in mining or quarrying operations. In much of eastern and central North America, the number of earthquakes suspected of having been induced is much smaller than the number of natural earthquakes, but in some regions, such as the south-central states of the U.S., a significant majority of recent earthquakes are thought by many seismologists to have been human-induced. Even within areas with many human-induced earthquakes, however, the activity that seems to induce seismicity at one location may be taking place at many other locations without inducing felt earthquakes. In addition, regions with frequent induced earthquakes may also be subject to damaging earthquakes that would have occurred independently of human activity. Making a strong scientific case for a causative link between a particular human activity and a particular sequence of earthquakes typically involves special studies devoted specifically to the question. Such investigations usually address the process by which the suspected triggering activity might have significantly altered stresses in the bedrock at the earthquake source, and they commonly address the ways in which the characteristics of the suspected human-triggered earthquakes differ from the characteristics of natural earthquakes in the region.

For More Information
Additional earthquake information for Colorado


- USGS.

PLANETARY TREMORS: USGS Reports Strong 4.0 Magnitude Earthquake Near Steele, Missouri - Along The New Madrid Seismic Zone! [MAPS + TECTONIC SUMMARY]

April 2, 2015 - MISSOURI, UNITED STATES - The United States Geological Survey reports a 4.0 magnitude earthquake near Steele, Missouri on Wednesday night, April 1.

The USGS said the earthquake was about 2 miles south-southwest of Steele and occurred around 10:51 p.m.

Earthquake 3D map.

According to the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Office, there have been no reports of damage or injuries.

A sheriff's office dispatcher says her computer monitor shook and then minutes later phones started ringing with people wondering if there was an earthquake.

On the KFVS12 Facebook page, many people say they felt it.

USGS earthquake location map.

USGS shakemap intensity.

From Oran, MO, one viewer said they heard a loud boom and plants started shaking.

It was also reportedly felt in Carbondale and at the Jackson-Union County line.

Click here to view the USGS ShakeMap for southeastern Missouri. - KCTV5.

Tectonic Summary - Earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone

The New Madrid seismic zone of southeast Missouri and adjacent States is the most seismically active in North America east of the Rockies. During the winter of 1811-1812 three very large earthquakes devastated the area and were felt throughout most of the Nation. They occurred a few weeks apart on December 16, January 23, and February 7. Hundreds of aftershocks, some severely damaging by themselves, continued for years. Prehistoric earthquakes similar in size to those of 1811-1812 occurred in the middle 1400's and around 900 A.D. Strong, damaging earthquakes struck the southwestern end of the seismic zone near Marked Tree, Arkansas in 1843 (magnitude 6.3), and the northeastern end near Charleston, Missouri in 1895 (magnitude 6.6). Since 1900, moderately damaging earthquakes have struck the seismic zone every few decades. About twice a year people feel still smaller earthquakes that do not cause damage.

Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. are typically felt over a much broader region than in the western U.S. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

Faults

Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. The earthquakes of the New Madrid seismic zone occur within a large network of faults called the Reelfoot rift. The rift formed about 500 million years ago, when this region was stretched in the northwest-southeast direction. Along a northeast-southwest zone at least 70 km (40 mi) wide and 500 km (300 mi) long, the rocks in the rift were slowly dropped down about 1-2 km (1 mi) along some of the faults. Now the region is undergoing east- west shortening, and the ancient faults of the Reelfoot rift are being reactivated to generate earthquakes. Today the Reelfoot rift and the New Madrid seismic zone are 2,000 km (1,200 mi) from the nearest plate boundary, which is in the Caribbean Sea.

The network of faults in the seismic zone is buried beneath hundreds to thousands of feet of sand and mud. Four of the largest faults are recognized as alignments of abundant small earthquakes, and movements along two of these faults dammed rivers and created lakes during the earthquakes of 1811-1812. A few more deeply buried faults were detected during oil and gas exploration, and a few small faults are known from geologic mapping. However, many earthquakes occur away from the few known faults, so there must be additional, unknown faults that can generate earthquakes in the seismic zone. Accordingly, the best overall guide to seismic hazard in the New Madrid seismic zone is the earthquakes themselves.

For More Information

• Additional earthquake information for Missouri

- USGS.

PLANETARY TREMORS: The Heart Of New Madrid Seismic Zone - 2.6 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Kentucky, Stirs Concerns!

January 29, 2014 - KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES - A few seconds of strange sounds and shaking; many of you experienced that during yesterday's earthquake near LaCenter, Kentucky.

USGS earthquake location.

Some may wonder if the tremor could trigger more earthquakes.  Luckily, the earthquake doesn't mean much. The geologist points out this was a 2.6 magnitude quake. They usually have to be 2.5 magnitude or more to even be felt and larger than that to trigger aftershocks, generally above a 5.

It turns out this earthquake is one of many this size along the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the last 25 years, but the people who felt it are still shaken.

Inside Bluegrass Grill in LaCenter, Kentucky, Max Loe serves the usual; a warm meal, hot coffee, and good conversation.

Today's topic is different.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.

The 2.6 magnitude earthquake has shaken the tiny town and stirred up questions.

Murray State Geologist George Kipphut said people should prepare for an earthquake, but not worry.

"A small earthquake in LaCenter does not necessarily mean a large earthquake is going to follow soon," Kipphut said.

Back at Bluegrass, Loe sorts silverware as her customers sift through their stories.

everyone has accepted the fact, it'll happen again. the only question is when.

A spokesperson with The U.S. Geological Survey said they will not be sending a team to the LaCenter area because this event wasn't large enough.


WATCH: Earthquake shakes, stirs up questions.

He said if there were multiple small quakes, then they would consider sending a follow up team.

The geologist said individual and family preparedness can go a long way. use this as an opportunity to prepare for all types of natural disasters.

For some helpful disaster preparedness tools from the Kentucky Emergency Management Agency, click here.   

The earthquake also gained the attention of students inside a Paducah Tilghman science class.

Teacher Nancy Broyles tells us her students paid extra attention today as they looked at the seismograph, and learned more about what earthquakes can do.

Broyles let her students know earthquakes of this magnitude are common along the new Madrid seismic zone. - WPSD.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Study Finds Dangerous New Madrid Fault "Alive And Active" - Could Spawn Huge Quakes In The U.S. Midwest, South!

January 27, 2014 - UNITED STATES - The New Madrid fault zone in the nation's midsection is active and could spawn future large earthquakes, scientists reported.

It's "not dead yet," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough, who was part of the study published online Thursday by the journal Science.

Researchers have long debated just how much of a hazard New Madrid (MAD'-rihd) poses. The zone stretches 150 miles, crossing parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.

In 1811 and 1812, it unleashed a trio of powerful jolts — measuring magnitudes 7.5 to 7.7 — that rattled the central Mississippi River valley. Chimneys fell and boats capsized. Farmland sank and turned into swamps. The death toll is unknown, but experts don't believe there were mass casualties because the region was sparsely populated then.

Unlike California's San Andreas and other faults that occur along boundaries of shifting tectonic plates, New Madrid is less understood since it's in the middle of the continent, far from plate boundaries.

Previous studies have suggested that it may be shutting down, based on GPS readings that showed little strain accumulation at the surface. Other research came to the same conclusion by blaming ongoing quake activity on aftershocks from the 1800s, which would essentially relieve strain on the fault.

"Our new results tell us that something is going on there, and therefore a repeat of the 1811-1812 sequence is possible."

The latest study suggests otherwise. Hough and USGS geophysicist Morgan Page in Pasadena, Calif., analyzed past quakes in the New Madrid region and used computer modeling to determine that the continuing tremors are not related to the big quakes two centuries ago.

"Our new results tell us that something is going on there, and therefore a repeat of the 1811-1812 sequence is possible," Hough said.

The USGS estimates there's a 7 to 10 percent chance of that happening in the next 50 years.

Undated photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a landslide trench and ridge east of Reelfoot
Lake in Obion County, Tenn., made by the New Madrid earthquakes in the early 1800s.
U.S. Geological Survey, file

Arthur Frankel, a seismologist with the USGS in Seattle who had no role in the study, said the latest results seem plausible. His recent field work using GPS shows significant movement of land along the fault in the past decade, indicating a buildup of strain that could lead to potentially dangerous quakes.

Others said this won't end the debate about the hazards on the New Madrid seismic zone.

Andrew Newman, a geophysicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said the method used in the study works well for faults along plate boundaries, but he's unsure if it applies to enigmatic faults like New Madrid. - NBC News.

PLANETARY TREMORS: 3.5 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Athens County, Ohio - Highest-Magnitude Tremor In The Area Since 1886!

November 22, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Athens County shook Wednesday afternoon in a way it hasn’t since the 19th century.

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake, strong enough to be felt, with an epicenter slightly east of Nelsonville, was recorded at 1:01 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

USGS earthquake location.

The earthquake was the strongest to hit Athens since a quake of similar magnitude rocked the county in 1886, scientists said.

There were no reports of damage, though both ODNR and the Athens County Emergency Management Agency received dozens of calls about the quake.

"(Southeast Ohio) is not really a seismically active area," said Tim Leftwich, a seismologist at ODNR. "It's not noted to be an earthquake prone area of the state."

Calls from as far as Charleston, W.Va. were reporting shaking, Leftwich said.

Though the county is hundreds of miles from the nearest tectonic plate boundary — in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean — a small fault line runs through the northern part of Athens County, said Doug Green, a geophysicist at Ohio University who studies earthquakes.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.

“It’s consistent, the location of the earthquake (and) the approximate depth are consistent with a structural weak point in the Earth’s crust,” Green said.

The U.S. Geological Survey placed the quake’s depth at 7.9 km — too deep to be triggered by a fracking injection well, said Green, who is currently studying drilling’s effects on seismic activity.

An earthquake of magnitude 2.5 to 3 is the smallest earthquake generally felt by people, according to the Associated Press Stylebook, which also states a Magnitude 4 quake can cause moderate damage.

A helicorder sits in the Clippinger Laboratories to measure earthquakes as part of the Ohio Seismic network stations.

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake is the highest people in Ohio are likely to see, Green said. - The Post.

Tectonic Summary - Earthquakes in the Stable Continental Region

Image: The Post.

Most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England, in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and elsewhere. However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake. The earthquakes that do occur can strike anywhere at irregular intervals.

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

Faults

Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. Most of the region's bedrock was formed as several generations of mountains rose and were eroded down again over the last billion or so years.

At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case. All parts of this vast region are far from the nearest plate boundaries, which, for the U.S., are to the east in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, to the south in the Caribbean Sea, and to the west in California and offshore from Washington and Oregon. The region is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even most of the known faults are poorly located at earthquake depths. Accordingly, few earthquakes east of the Rockies can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. In most areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards is the earthquakes themselves. - USGS.

PLANETARY TREMORS: New Research From USGS Reveals That American Heartland At High Risk For Sizable Quakes - Earthquake Zone Extends From Marked Tree, Arkansas To Paducah, Kentucky And As Far South As Memphis, Tennessee!

October 02, 2013 - UNITED STATES - An earthquake zone that extends from Marked Tree, Arkansas to Paducah, Kentucky and as far south as Memphis, Tennessee has a higher earthquake risk than adjacent areas within the United States, according to new research from the US Geological Survey (USGS).

Image Credit: Thinkstock.com

Using sophisticated technology, USGS scientists have developed new high-resolution images of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which allows them to map the area in more detail than ever before. These images allow for greater understanding of the weak rocks in this region, found at much greater depths in the Earth’s mantle compared to those in surrounding zones.

The USGS-led research was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Some of the largest earthquakes in the US have occurred in the NMSZ, including three earthquakes greater than magnitude 7 on the Richter scale that occurred in 1811 and 1812. Smaller temblors that have occurred in this region since those more powerful ones have been significant in their own right.

“With the new high-resolution imagery, we can see in greater detail that the New Madrid Seismic Zone is mechanically weaker than surrounding areas and therefore concentrates movement and stress in a narrow area,” said USGS scientist Fred Pollitz, who is the lead author of this research. “The structure beneath this zone is unique when compared to adjacent areas in the central and eastern United States. A more in-depth understanding of such zones of weakness ultimately helps inform decisions such as the adoption of appropriate building codes to protect vulnerable communities, while also providing insight that could be applied to other regions across the world.”

The USGS has mapped the NMSZ before and had concluded that it is a region of high seismic hazard. However, previous assessments included earthquake records over a much shorter time span — 4,500 years.

This mapping project looked at a much larger area – the 500-million-year-old Reelfoot Rift – specifically, with the NMSZ being located at the northernmost part of that region. The USGS team imaged rocks deep beneath the Earth’s surface to get a good sense of their characteristics and an understanding of their mechanical behavior, especially their ability to withstand a constant stream of stress and pressure.

Surprisingly, the team found that the weak rocks under the Reelfoot Rift fault lines extend more than 100 miles down into the mantle, much farther than weak rocks found in other ancient rift zones in the central and eastern US. The weak mantle rocks in the Reelfoot Rift area are more susceptible to concentration of tectonic stress and more mobile due to their low seismic velocity.

For the mapping project, the team relied on data from USArray, a large network of seismometers that make up one part of the EarthScope program operated by the National Science Foundation (NSF). These seismometers provide USGS and other scientists with images of the crust and mantle as far down as 120 miles.

“Our results are unexpected and significant because they suggest that large earthquakes remain concentrated within the New Madrid Seismic Zone,” said USGS scientist Walter Mooney, the co-author of the report. “There are still many unknowns about this zone, and future research will aim to understand why the seismic zone is active now, why its earthquake history may be episodic over millions of years, and how often it produces large quakes.”

The USGS research team said they hope to map the seismic structure of the entire country using data from USArray. The effort, which started in California nearly 10 years ago, is now focusing on the east coast and will later map out zones under Alaska. The team noted that all the USArray and Earthscope data will also help inform future USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps. - Red Orbit.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: More Sinkholes Keep Popping Up In America - Get In The Hole, Astonishing Moment A 15 Foot Deep And 10 Feet Wide Sinkhole Swallowed A Golfer Along A Fairway Course In St. Louis, Missouri; And Block Closes In Adams Morgan Neighborhood When Sinkhole Opens In Washington, D.C.!

March 12, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A Missouri father was hoping for a hole-in-one when he set out for a day of golf on Friday - but he didn't think he'd end up the one in the hole. St Louis mortgage banker and avid golfer Mark Mihal was with three friends at the Annbriar Golf Course near Waterloo when he suddenly disappeared into the turf on the fairway of the 14th hole.

The 43-year-old fell into a bell-shaped enclosure below the green that measured 15 feet deep and 10 feet wide, surprising his golf pals and the course management who said this was the first time anything like this had happened in Annbriar's 20-year history. 'I noticed this anomaly in the fairway and went to have a look but, by the time I took one step, I was gone, I was underground,' Mihal told MailOnline.

Friends: Mihal's friends, pictured, managed to hoist him out of the hole by tying a rope around his waist.

Get In The Hole! Astonishing Moment A 15 Feet Deep And 10 Feet Wide Sinkhole Swallowed A Golfer Along A Fairway Course In St. Louis, Missouri.

'When I went through (the opening) I couldn't see anything, I didn't know how far I was going or what I was going to hit.' He said, after plummeting through the earth, he landed on a pile of mud in a cavernous space that could have fit up to 10 people.

'I was just lying on the side of the mound,' he said. 'There was some room in there, it was sort of like a room or a cave. It wasn't confining. It was very dark, though after a while my eyes got used to it. But I couldn't look up because there was stuff still falling.' The rescue was precarious as no one knew whether the hole would expand, swallowing more people. The fact he dislocated his shoulder in the fall didn't help either.

'I knew the only way to get out was straight up and I didn't have the use of my left arm,' he said. His friends - Mike Peters, Ed Magaletta and Hank Martinez - called the golf course's pro shop and, armed with a rope and a 12-ft ladder, general manager Russ Noble rushed to help out. Magaletta, a local real estate agent with whom Mihal had been playing golf for years, bravely volunteered to climbed down into the enclosure where he tied the rope around his friend's waist so the team could pull him to safety.

'Ed came down to get me. He made a sling out of his jacket and tied a rope around me, which the others used to pull me from the top and he pushed me from underneath,' Mihal said. The whole rescue took just 20 minutes, but the father said, during the terrifying ordeal, he couldn't help but think of the sinkhole that two weeks ago swallowed 36-year-old Florida man Jeffrey Bush, who remains missing.

Sinkhole: The 43-year-old fell into a bell-shaped enclosure below the green that measured 15 feet deep and 10 feet wide, pictured.

'That crossed my mind when I was actually falling. Is this how I'm going to go out? In a sinkhole,' Mihal told MailOnline. He said he was pretty eager to get out as soon as possible, fearing the ground beneath him would continue to sink. 'I felt quite stable on the mud, but when I looked around me there were some cracks where there was just blackness so I think (the hole) was just going to keep going,' he said.

Mihal pushed the thoughts of February's deadly sinkhole out of his mind and focused on how he was going to get out with his left arm out of order. He also thought about how fortunate he was not to have been golfing alone that day. 'If you're playing by yourself and waiting for someone to find you you'd be waiting a long time,' he said.' Fortunately, it wasn't an elderly person or someone on their own. Or an entire golf cart. We were told to park the carts off the ground that day.'

Mihal added: 'Maybe I'm lucky and unlucky,' referring to having his friends on hand to help. While he never would have suspected a 15ft sinkhole on the course, Mihal, who had played at Annbriar more than 10 times in the past, said he did notice something odd on the 14th hole fairway before he dropped through the earth. He said Peters was sizing up a shot and Martinez and Magaletta were having a break in a wooded area nearby when he saw a dip on the green and went to take a look.

'I noticed this anomaly in the fairway, it was a bathtub size depression, and I thought to myself "that is unfair to have that there," he said. 'It didn't look unstable, I was just thinking how would you play a shot from there.' Mihal is undergoing medical tests to make sure the dislocated shoulder is the only injury he came out of the hole with. He had an MRI today to determine whether the arm requires surgery.

Inset: Mihal, pictured, is undergoing medical tests to make sure the dislocated shoulder is the only injury he came out of the hole with.
The Scene: The sinkhole opened up on the fairway of the 14th hole, circled, on Annbriar Golf Course.

The health scare is quite enough for 43-year-old's family, who have been supporting his wife, Lori, through chemotherapy for breast cancer. Lori wrote an account of her husband's sinkhole survival on a golfing website Mihal co-owns, golfmanna.com. 'He was having a great round and lots of laughs with his buddies,' she wrote.  'Mark had already hit his second shot when he went to check out the distance for his playing partner, Mike Peters, who was getting ready to hit. Mike had his back to Mark and when he turned to say something to him, Mark was gone.'

Lori said Mihal is claustrophobic and began to panic when he realized his predicament and his injury meant he was in excruciating pain. 'The clubhouse respondents brought a 12-foot ladder, which they put down the side of the hole and propped on a mound of mud within it,' she wrote. 'However, Mark was another six feet below that level and had dislocated his shoulder during the fall; he only had the use of one arm and couldn’t pull himself up to the ladder.'

Lori said Peters called her once Mihal was out of the hole and in an ambulance on his way to hospital.  'As soon as I answered, I asked "What is wrong?" she recalled. 'He said, "Mark is fine, but he has had an accident and is in an ambulance." I don't think he knew how to tell me that my husband had just been swallowed by the earth. It just sounds too unbelievable!' She said when her husband told the story of what had happened she was 'dumbfounded.'

14th: The sinkhole opened up as Mihal was standing on the fairway, pictured, of the 14th hole.

'I immediately thanked God that they were able to get him out; I, too, couldn't help but think of the recent news buzz about sinkholes and people being lost forever.' She said the bizarre incident reminds her of the movie Space Jam in which Michael Jordan disappears into the ground while playing golf.  'We're very fortunate that Mark wasn't injured worse than he was – or even killed,' she said. 'It's just another reminder to hold your loved ones close and thank God for all the blessings we've been given.' Geologist Philip Moss said sinkholes are common in St Louis because the limestone bedrock often dissolves in rainwater creating a cave below the surface. But he told the St Louis Post-Dispatch the openings are generally visible.

'This guy just really was in the wrong place at the wrong time,' Moss said. Mihal said the Annbriar course had been one of his favorites and he and his golf pals - the Friday Foursome - have enjoyed playing it for years. 'It's one of the better, if not the best public course in the area,' he said. But while he's sure to continue his golfing hobby after his shoulder recovers, Mihal will be giving that particular green a wide berth. 'I think its just a little too weird,' he said. 'I don't think I'd be very comfortable playing that hole again.' - Daily Mail.

Block Closes In Adams Morgan Neighborhood When Sinkhole Opens In Washington, D.C.

D.C. fire officials are at the scene of a sinkhole forming in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. Fire officials says they are requesting the Department of Public Works because the sinkhole is affecting what looks like a waterpipe that may be in the process of collapsing. A police department crane has also been requested, says an official, because of several vehicles packed into the area. Those cars may have to be relocated. - WUSA.

@DCPoliceDept tweets around 12:30pm:
“Street Closure:1900 blk of Biltmore St NW due to a sink hole. Streets closed19th & Biltmore/Biltmore St&CliffbournePl NW/Cliffbourne&Calvert”

From Alert DC:
“MPD reports a large sink hole in the 1900 block of Biltmore Street NW. The sink hole is described as 25 feet deep and expanding from east to west. Biltmore Street is closed between 19th Street and Cliffbourne Pl NW. Please avoid the area.” - Popville.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Two Small Earthquakes Rumble Ground in East Tennessee!

November 24, 2012 - UNITED STATES - Two small earthquakes within hours of each other rumbled the ground in East Tennessee on Saturday morning.  The first, a 3.0 magnitude, hit about four miles northeast of Sevierville, Tenn., about 6 a.m. It was soon followed by a smaller 2.5 magnitude quake about five miles away from the town, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s website. 

USGS map.

The website’s ‘Did you feel it?’ feature indicates the earthquakes were felt as far away as Vonore, Tenn., and Black Mountain, N.C., as reported by people who live in those areas.  Some people reported to the website that the first quake was felt in Morristown, Tenn., which is about 23 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter. But folks working in the National Weather Service center there didn’t feel it. 

“We definitely didn’t feel either one here,” meteorologist George Mathews said, adding that someone from nearby Jefferson County called in and said they had felt the rumbles.  East Tennessee’s seismic zone, which extends across the state into northwestern Georgia and northeastern Alabama, is one of the most active earthquake areas in the southeast part of the U.S., according to the USGS website.  “Earthquakes too small to cause damage are felt about once a year,” according to the website. “Earthquakes too small to be felt are abundant in the seismic zone, and seismographs have recorded hundreds of them in recent decades.”  The largest quake in the zone happened in 2009 and reached a magnitude of 4.6, according to the website.  Both Saturday quakes came two weeks after a larger earthquake was felt in Kentucky on Nov. 10. That 4.3 magnitude quake was felt in eight states. - TriCities.

PLANETARY TREMORS: New Madrid Seismic Zone - UT Scientist Says East Tennessee Could One Day See 7.5 Magnitude Earthquake!

November 14, 2012 -  UNITED STATES - Areas of East Tennessee were shaking Saturday after a 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck Whitesburg, Kentucky.  University of Tennessee professor Dr. Bob Hatcher said the earthquake could be felt for miles across states because the fault occurred within a plate, not between two plates where the crust is less intact. 

East Tennessee has the second most active seismic zone in the Eastern United States.

"We don't know what the cause is exactly but there are forces moving plates all the time," said Dr. Hatcher. "But why do we have earthquakes within the plates? We do not know."  Hatcher said East Tennessee has the second most active seismic zone in the Eastern United States, but that normally the earthquakes in East Tennessee are smaller, keeping damage to a minimum.  That may not always be the case.  Hatcher said evidence shows there has been a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in the area, but the large earthquake happened hundreds of years ago.  "The people who figure probability on earthquakes for the U.S. Geological Survey say this area could produce a magnitude 7.5," he said. 

His research seeks to find out when large earthquakes in East Tennessee have happened in the past and how frequently they recur.  He hopes the discovery of this information will give scientists an idea of when the next large earthquake could hit the area.  Hatcher said when and if that happens again, there will be damage.  "There would still be damage to roads, you'd have overpasses come down, you'd have bridges that might have cracks in them, and some bridges might fall," he said.  Hatcher said many buildings and homes would fall, but the dams and nuclear power plants should survive the shaking.  He said no matter the size of the quake, though, people should be prepared.  He advises homeowners to move from flood plains and if they live near a lake, be cognizant that a wave could come up 20 to 30 feet on the shore.  Residents should also have food and water and be prepared for a loss of electricity, he said, because there's no telling when the next one will happen. - WATE.

WATCH: Major earthquake could hit East Tennessee.

DISASTER PRECURSOR: Weather Anomalies - Scientists Detect Unusual Seismic Signals From Midwest Tornadoes!

An Indiana University geophysical experiment detected unusual seismic signals associated with tornadoes that recently struck regions across the Midwest -- information that may have value for meteorologists studying the atmospheric activity that precedes tornado disasters.

The experiment by IU researchers involves deployment of more than 100 state-of-the-art digital seismographs in a broad swath of the U.S. midcontinent. One of the twisters that struck southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois on Feb. 29 passed through the seismic detection array. "In examining the seismograms, we recorded unusual seismic signals on three of our stations in southern Illinois," said Michael Hamburger, professor in the department of geological sciences at IU Bloomington and one of the researchers conducting the experiment.  "The seismograms show a strong, low-frequency pulse beginning around 4:45 a.m. on Feb. 29. Our preliminary interpretation, based on other seismic records of tornadoes, suggests that we were recording not the tornado itself, but a large atmospheric pressure transient related to the large thunderstorms that spawned the tornadoes." The seismographs that detected the pulse are near Harrisburg, Ill., a town of 9,000 where a pre-dawn twister caused extensive damage, killed six people and injured about 100 more.

IU researchers initially feared that some of the instruments might be damaged by the storm, setting back a National Science Foundation-funded project that included the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of effort. But when principal investigator Gary Pavlis, an IU professor of geological sciences, checked the digital recordings of the Illinois stations on Feb. 29, he found they were still alive and streaming data. As he checked further, he discovered the strange "tornado seismograms" that were recorded on seismographs near Harrisburg. Hamburger said a seismic pressure gradient associated with the tornado produced a slow, minute tilting of the seismograph that lasted for several minutes. He said this sort of pressure-related signal may help scientists better understand atmospheric activity that takes place right before tornadoes touch down. The IU researchers are working with colleagues at the University of California San Diego to try to compare recordings with other tornado-related signals and to dig deeper into the analysis. While seismographs have been known to detect seismic activity related to tornadoes, it is highly unusual to have state-of-the-art digital instruments recording information in such close proximity to a tornado, the researchers say. - Science Daily.

SHAKEOUT AMERICA - Massive Earthquake Drill of 2.3 Million People in Central U.S. - Heightened Fears and Concerns Rising About New Madrid, California's Death Valley and Tremors in Washington?!

Today, February 7, 2012, at 10:15 a.m. CST, more than 2.3 million people across nine states participated in the 2012 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut! According to the organizers of the drill, The ShakeOut is an opportunity to practice protection during an earthquakes, and to get prepared, along with family, community, co-workers, state, and and region.

Agencies that focus on emergency management and disaster recovery are sponsoring the event, which will consist of widespread drills and informational presentations for some communities. The event coincides with the 200th anniversary of the final earthquake in the 1811-1812 series of quakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. - Southeast Missourian.

This winter is the bicentennial (200th) anniversary of the New Madrid, Missouri earthquakes, a series of the most powerful earthquakes to strike the eastern U.S. in recorded history. Three of the quakes in the series are estimated to have reached a magnitude between 7.0 and 8.0. The first earthquake occurred on December 16, 1811, the second on January 23, 1812, and the third on February 7, 1812 - exactly 200 years ago to date. Can it happen again?

The New Madrid seismic zone remains the most seismically active region and, hence, the highest earthquake risk within the continental U.S. outside California. Damaging tremors are not as frequent as in California, but when they occur, the destruction can affect a much larger area. A major earthquake, 7.5 or greater in the region, is projected to occur every 200- 300 years (the last one in 1812). USGS estimates there is a 20% chance of such an occurrence by 2040. (Note: these odds are acknowledged to be extremely uncertain given state of knowledge). Quakes comparable to those during the 1811 to 1812 winter would affect just about half the U.S. with sizable damage and potential for significant loss of life spread through 20 states or more. Given the orders of magnitude increases in population, buildings of all kinds, and societal dependent infrastructure (e.g., communications, power, pipe lines, etc) since 1812, the level of damage, number of casualties, and degree of hardships are virtually beyond comprehension. - Washington Post.

Bad news, Californians. A long-dormant volcano in Death Valley National Park might be due for an eruption far sooner than originally anticipated, according to researchers from Columbia University. Is the Golden State really in danger of blowing its lid? Here's what you should know:

Which volcano is it? It's the Ubehebe Crater, which sits in the northern region of Death Valley. The mile-and-a-half-wide, 600-foot-deep crater was thought to have come "explosively into being" some 10,000 years ago when rising magma came into contact with sea water, says Richard A. Lovett at National Geographic. "The bomb-like steam eruption produced a mushroom cloud that, as it collapsed, sent rocky debris flowing out sideways at 200 miles an hour." But new research suggests the volcano is much younger than that. How old is it then? The last explosion happened just 800 years ago, says Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo — a far cry from original estimates. A team of scientists, including study co-authors Peri Sasnett and Brent Goehring, used "the same method used to date moon rocks" to get a reading on the crater's real age after seeing it firsthand and questioning the time since its last eruption. "It looks very young," said Goehring. Why does the volcano's age matter? "According to the new data, the eruption was recent enough to suggest that the area might become volcanically active again," says Lovett, meaning "the conditions are still ripe for an eruption." For the crater to blow, it would require a pressurized combination of magma and water, much like the conditions that originally set it off. This combination "produces steam," says Diaz, "which in turn results in a pressure build-up until it reaches a point that will cause a violent explosion." - The Week.

In Washington, state geology officials say that an earthquake on Mt. Hood provides a more significant risk to the region than a volcanic eruption.

Geologists say they used state-of-the-art LIDAR data to map what's happening underground on Mt. Hood -- and what it could mean for people in the area. The study found that a significant volcanic eruption would cause up to a billion and a half dollars worth of damage and affect close to four-thousand people. That pales next to the damage from a 500-year earthquake: $9 billion in damage, affecting more than 60,000 people. The agency's chief scientist, Ian Madin, explains that volcanic debris would likely stick to the local river drainages. Madin said, "Those valleys – the Sandy, Hood River – are really kind of down in deep canyons, and that's where the mud flow goes, and nobody lives down there, whereas the earthquake sort of affects this entire area." The study also looked at risks posed by major floods, shifting river channels, and landslides. - OPB.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Tracking Developments at the New Madrid Seismic Zone - Small Earthquake Rattle Southern Illinois; Related to Fault Zone! UPDATE: Is "The Big One" Imminent - Major Disaster Drill Set For February 7th, the Bicentennial Anniversary of the 7.7 Mega-Quake That Rocked Continental America 200 Years Ago!

Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey confirm a small earthquake rattled an area of Southern Illinois early this morning.

A magnitude-2.2 tremor was recorded at the St. Louis University Earthquake Research Center at 5:10 a.m. No damage was reported.

Researchers said the quake's epicenter was about four miles east of Troy, Ill., or around 25 miles east of St. Louis. The quake originated from an estimated depth of 1.8 miles.

The quake was believed to have related to a series of faults associated with the New Madrid Fault Zone.

The last major earthquake recorded in Southern Illinois was a 5.2 tremor recorded on April 18, 2008 and was centered near Bellmont, Ill. A 2.7 tremor was noted on September 13, 2011 east of Cisne, Ill. - Courier Press.

What If 'The Big One' Rocked St. Louis?

This winter is the bicentennial (200th) anniversary of three New Madrid earthquakes that shook not just Missouri, Illinois. Kentucky and Tennessee, but were felt as far away as New York City, Washington, D.C. and Charleston, South Carolina.

The New Madrid earthquakes on December 16 (1811), January 23 and February 7 (1812) are considered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to be the fifth, sixth, and seventh largest earthquakes ever in the continental United States. The first and third quakes were estimated at 7.7 in magnitude, according to the USGS, and the January quake was a mere 7.5. St. Louis suffered the most damage from the February quake, the last of the three. There was some severe structure damage and toppled chimneys. The USGS reported that Louisville, and as far away as Nashville, suffered some extreme disturbances.

The first person I contacted hoping for an estimate of the damage that would be suffered today from similar quakes was Professor Ian Prowell at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He came to MUS&T from California with a background in seismic research. He directed me to a website, The Great Central U.S Shake Out, a consortium headquartered in Memphis that described a scenario of a 6.5 magnitude quake in New Madrid.  They estimated 100 deaths and 2,500 injuries, but the worst St. Louis would suffer would be some “shaking damage.” However, a 6.5 magnitude earthquake is not a 7.7 magnitude quake—something which some experts call “a once in 300 year event.”

So now 200 years have passed since the trio of giant shakers. Mark Croarkin, a MoDOT District Engineer who specializes is bridges, is confident the recent bridge retro work will withstand quakes in 5-6 magnitude range. But he admits a 7.7 is something completely different. “We spend a lot more time on double-decker structures after what happened in 1989 in San Francisco (a 6.9 quake),” Croarkin said. “Keep in mind there is no such thing as ‘earthquake proof.’ There is also a question of how much money you want to, or can spend.“

“A 7.7 earthquake—FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration) comes in and takes over the whole state,” Croarkin said. “If you are a first responder and it is a 7.8 quake, you take care of your family first and then respond. It is going to be that serious even if it originated in New Madrid,” he said. Croarkin explained that the New Madrid area is perhaps the toughest to prepare for. “There are not fault lines like they have in California. Around New Madrid, there are rifts that are small splits in a plate. They are hard to identify. Much of the area is solid limestone that will tremble a long way,” Croarkin said. Several other construction and traffic engineers said in a huge earthquake the smaller bridges would be some of the biggest problems. These would be like the I-64 bridges over Olive/Clarkson or Highway 141.

Those bridges would likely fall flat onto the road below. Think of all the bridges along I-64 from just Brentwood Boulevard to the Missouri River.  If there is major damage toward the southwest of St. Louis, Manchester Road and Route 100 would be a least-affected road, because it has the fewest bridges. It would be cleared first and used to send help and relief supplies. But past I-270 along Manchester, there are still bridges at Highway 141, the Meramec River and I-44.  Mike Geisel, who wears three important hats in Chesterfield, as the planning director, public works director and city engineer, shared his belief that St. Louis would be affected if there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in New Madrid. But he thought Chesterfield would suffer less damage than older communities in the region.

“I do, however, have a great deal of confidence in both our modern building codes as well as County's enforcement of same. Chesterfield is in a good position due to the relatively new construction," Geisel said. There will be damage. Substantial damage! There will be structures completely lost in a severe earthquake and substantial damage to our infrastructure. Roads, bridges, but even more importantly are our utilities, e.g. gas, electric, and communications. There are a lot of hidden hazards,” Geisel said, in response to our inquiry. On Tuesday, February 7 at 10:15 a.m., there will be an earthquake drill, 200 years to the day of the final New Madrid 7.7 magnitude earthquake. - Chesterfield Patch.

Fingerprints of a Monster Quake.

As mighty forests cracked and shattered and the Mississippi River flowed backward, the settlers of New Madrid, Mo., thought it was doomsday. Their accounts are frightening to read: the landscape undulating like a shaken carpet, rising and falling in waves 15 feet high. Widespread flooding as the earth broke. Fissures shooting “vast volumes of water and sand . . . as high as the tops of the trees.” With the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes this winter, scientists and emergency planners are asking: Could all this happen again?

Matt Davis, and Caleb Johnson hunt for ducks on Big Lake, west of Blytheville, Ark.
The New Madrid earthquakes created the shallow lake and its adjoining swamp.

The New Madrid temblors knocked chimneys off log cabins in the wilderness and drowned passengers on riverboats. Today they might crumble buildings from St. Louis to Memphis, rupture natural gas pipelines, wrench bridges into the Big Muddy, traumatize an estimated 12 million people. The Federal Emergency Management Agency warns of a possible $300 billion in economic losses across eight states, should a magnitude 7.7 earthquake strike near New Madrid. (After the 1812 temblor, Congress doled out $50,000 to settlers, the first disaster relief in American history.)
How strong was it?

The New Madrid quakes started nine days before Christmas in 1811 and culminated in a massive shock on Feb. 7, 1812, which some experts believe was one of the largest quakes ever to strike the center of a continent. Mid-continent events, far from plate boundaries such as the so-called Ring of Fire along which California trembles, are poorly understood. They can be just as destructive: The 1556 disaster in Shaanxi, China, had the highest death toll of any quake in history, an estimated 830,000. They happen along a crazy quilt of faults and hence are unpredictable. And they can be widely separated in time: Last August’s magnitude 5.8 quake at Mineral, Va., which damaged the Washington Monument and other buildings in the District, was the biggest in that seismic zone since 1875.

No one knows exactly what caused the New Madrid region — the name is pronounced “New MAH-drid” — to strain and rupture. And because there were no instruments recording the event, scientists disagree about how powerful the convulsions were. Recent estimates range from below 7 up to nearly 8. We know that New Madrid jolted sleepers awake on the East Coast. President James Madison wrote Thomas Jefferson that the Feb. 7 tremor hit a few minutes after 4 a.m. at the White House, 700 miles from the epicenter, and “lasted several minutes.” To some scientists, this suggests a magnitude closer to 8 than to 7.

To get a better sense of what happened at New Madrid and whether a similar shock is likely to recur, paleoseismologist Martitia Tuttle looks for the fingerprints an earthquake leaves on the landscape. The Mississippi’s muddy floodplain, subject to erosion and soil movement, obscures faults at the surface. But there is another kind of evidence: patches of sand that in many places mottle the wide fields like a rash. Scientists call them sand blows. During the quakes of 1811-12, pressurized water and sand spurted up from underground and left deposits at the surface. Tuttle and her scientific partners are adept at finding these old sand blows on riverbanks — she has paddled or motored along 895 miles of snake-infested backwaters — or from the air. - Washington Post.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Small Earthquake Rattles Southern Illinois - Related to a Series of Faults Associated With the New Madrid Fault Zone!

Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey confirm a small earthquake rattled an ares of Southern Illinois early this morning.

A magnitude-2.2 tremor was recorded at the St. Louis University Earthquake Research Center at 5:10 a.m. No damage was reported.

Researchers said the quake's epicenter was about four miles east of Troy, Ill., or around 25 miles east of St. Louis. The quake originated from an estimated depth of 1.8 miles.

The quake was believed to have related to a series of faults associated with the New Madrid Fault Zone.

The last major earthquake recorded in Southern Illinois was a 5.2 tremor recorded on April 18, 2008 and was centered near Bellmont, Ill. A 2.7 tremor was noted on September 13, 2011 east of Cisne, Ill. - Courier Press.

PLANETARY TREMORS: New Madrid Seismic Zone - New Madrid Fault Study to Prepare for Potential Mega-Quake!

With a little luck, the bicentennial of three of the strongest earthquakes in the history of the continental United States will pass quietly this winter. Two hundred years ago, the center of the United States shook violently as the first of three strong earthquakes — estimated to be of magnitude 7 to 8 — rocked parts of a five-state area in the Mississippi River Valley south of St. Louis.

The New Madrid Earthquakes, named for the southeast Missouri town at the epicenter of the last quake, are considered to be three among the top seven ever recorded in the lower 48 states, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Some sources consider them the strongest earthquakes ever to strike the lower 48 states, even though there were no seismic instruments back then. Still, evidence left by the quakes and accounts by those who experienced them give scientists some idea of their strength. “On the 16th of December 1811, about two o’clock a.m., we were visited by a violent shock of an earthquake, accompanied by a very awful noise resembling loud but distant thunder,” wrote eyewitness Eliza Bryan. In Bryan’s letter, he painted a picture of fear and chaos in the shock’s aftermath. “The screams of the affrighted inhabitants running to and fro, not knowing where to go or what to do — the cries of the fowls and beasts of every species — the cracking of trees falling, and the roaring of the Mississippi — the current of which was retrograde for a few minutes, owing as one is supposed, to an interruption in its bed — formed a scene truly horrible.” Dozens of aftershocks followed, including one on Dec. 16 that was nearly as strong as the first quake. The ground rumbled for the next two months, including two additional quakes that struck Jan. 23 and Feb. 7, 1812.

And that might not be the end of the story. Evidence also points to serious earthquakes in 950 and 1400 A.D. Geologists say the New Madrid Seismic Zone, stretching for 150 miles and covering portions of Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and southern Illinois, still has the potential to produce a major earthquake. Not your coastal earthquake. The New Madrid quakes defy the understanding most people have about earthquakes because they occurred far from any evident fault lines or continental plate boundaries. New Madrid, Mo., is about 165 miles south of St. Louis. The New Madrid Seismic Zone is a failed rift, a place where the North American Plate tried to tear itself apart when the continents drifted apart hundreds of millions of years ago. It’s not one fault, but three — corresponding to three earthquakes in 1811-12. The tears in the Earth’s crust are buried deep underground, covered by millions of years of sediments. “In 1811-12, there were three very large main shocks on each one of those faults,” said Robert Bauer, principal engineering geologist with the Illinois State Geological Survey. “And there were thousands of aftershocks. “When seismic activity is monitored,” he said, “it all lines up, giving you three lines that people believe are the faults that produce 100-200 small earthquakes a year — most not felt by people, but (they) can be picked up by seismographs.” Bauer said tectonic plates continue to move, squeezing the New Madrid faults and allowing them to build up enough energy for future earthquakes. “The plates are moving around, dragged by convection cells underneath,” he said. “Through most of the central United States, we are being squeezed in an east-west direction.”

What could happen. Because the potential for earthquakes remains, scientists have developed sophisticated monitoring networks that will get information in the hands of first responders and government officials as quickly as possible in the event of a serious earthquake. “There have been a number of estimates that have been done throughout the years to determine the impact of a sizable New Madrid event,” Bauer said. “Potential casualties, fatalities, estimates of the number of structures damaged in different categories — and many of these have been run through a computer loss estimation program that FEMA has developed,” he said. Most emergency plans are based on higher-magnitude earthquakes. A FEMA report issued in 1990 estimated a 7.6 magnitude quake would cause $2.8 billion in damage, 260 deaths and 1,060 serious injuries in St. Louis — almost a three-hour drive to the north of New Madrid. In lightly populated areas, deaths are expected to be fewer at night due to children being at home and not in schools. A 1985 study called for Poplar Bluff, in the Missouri Bootheel region, to suffer $693 million in damage and one death if the quake occurs at night or 17 if it happens during the day. The 1811-12 quakes destroyed most of the buildings in New Madrid and Little Prairie, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Earthquakes can occur outside the New Madrid Seismic Zone. “We use the New Madrid Seismic Zone as a forum to prepare for earthquakes,” Bauer said. “We have earthquakes throughout the state. A large event or events in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone or smaller events near your city could do more damage than a large one far away.” Bauer said earthquake scenarios are useful preparation for all kinds of natural disasters. “There are a couple of professors saying the New Madrid Seismic Zone is dead, and that nobody should be preparing for earthquake damage,” he said. “But these preparations could deal with multiple hazards. “There was a great case in Kentucky where their director of emergency management had gone through an exercise where a New Madrid event knocked out communications,” Bauer said. “In January 2009, an ice storm totally knocked out communication for the western part of the state, so he said, ‘Take down the earthquake plan,’ and they used it to help deploy National Guardsmen to re-establish communications. He called it an ‘icequake.’”

Saint Louis University and the University of Memphis form the two main earthquake-monitoring stations. Robert Hermann, professor of geophysics at SLU’s Earthquake Center, said his work there is two-fold. Hermann’s research interest is to work with engineers to develop a better understanding of what happens to a building when shaking occurs. He is interested in the safe design of buildings, those engineered to the proper level of strength, and re-evaluating existing structures and their safety. First responders are concerned with life safety after an earthquake, Hermann said. “But life safety also is in the preservation of property before you have an earthquake,” he said. “We take this all very seriously, as we must.” The second part is maintaining a network of monitoring equipment that will feed information quickly and accurately to earthquake centers, including SLU and Memphis. “What we do is we ensure the instruments work properly and that the data streams are well-defined,” Hermann said. Thirty-five monitoring sites gather information, helping scientists pinpoint the location, depth and size of an earthquake. Hermann said the whole thing exists almost virtually. Modern instruments contain a sensor connected to a computer in the field, which is connected to a satellite or the Internet. Information flows through to Saint Louis University, and then it is forwarded electronically to the University of Memphis and the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. Information then is distributed to the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, FEMA, state emergency management agencies and others. “We want to provide information to the responder, letting them know where the earthquake occurred and an initial estimate of what the problems are,” Hermann said. “Within the first hour you don’t know how bad it was, especially if you are not there,” he said. “You have to gear up the response, get the playbook out and get emergency services there to save lives and help injured people.” - SJ-R.

ALERT: Illinois Emergency Management Agency Exercise - Plans and Preparations for a Catastrophic Earthquake in Southern Illinois?!

I just came across the following news release from KSDK of plans by authorities in the American state of Illinois to make preparations for a "catastrophic" earthquake by simulating tests and exercises around a potential seismic disaster. This should be monitored and tracked closely, given the profilic nature of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the potential for the production of mega-earthquakes in the future, and the past usage of exercises as a cover for the operational executions of disasters and so-called acts of terrorism.

It must be remembered that on the morning of the alleged terrorist strike on America on September 11, 2001 (9/11); there were at least six training exercises in operation by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, such as: Operation Northern Vigilance, Operation Vigilant Guardian and the Biowarfare Exercise Tripod.

It should also be noted that over the last year or so, FEMA has been simulating the catastrophic nature of a major earthquake in the central United States region of the NMSZ, as National Level Exercises or NLEs. With 2011 being the bicentennial anniversary of the 1811 New Madrid earthquake, where a magnitude 7.2 to 8.2 tremor resulted in major damage to several states in the southern and midwestern United States such as Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi; and was felt as far as New York and  Massachusetts.

The Illinois Emergency Management Agency is coordinating a three-day multi-county exercise to test plans dealing with a catastrophic earthquake in southern Illinois. More than 100 state and local agencies and emergency response organizations will participate in the test, which will begin Tuesday morning and end Thursday afternoon. Originally, the earthquake exercise was scheduled to coincide with the federal National Level Exercise in mid-May, but due to major flooding the state's portion of the exercise was rescheduled. "While we have considerable experience responding to the disasters we frequently face, such as tornadoes, floods and blizzards, a major earthquake would definitely present unique challenges," said IEMA Director Jonathon Monken.

"This exercise will give us an opportunity to test our earthquake plans and identify any issues we need to address to enhance our preparedness." The scenarios participants will face will not be not revealed in advance, but they will need to implement existing plans and procedures for dealing with a catastrophic earthquake that could occur in the New Madrid Seismic Zone in southwestern Illinois. Most of the exercises will occur inside emergency operations centers and other facilities. Twenty-two counties will participate in the exercise, as well as 16 state agencies, two federal agencies, six mutual aid organizations, 28 public health departments, and 32 hospitals. - KSDK.

PLANETARY TREMORS: New Madrid Seismic Zone - Geologists Closely Monitoring Surge in Arkansas Quakes, A Larger Tremor is Imminent?!

"I'm not saying that's what it is. I don't want to scare people and I don't want to say it's going to happen. It's just something we're looking at."

The Arkansas Geological Survey says it is stepping up its monitoring of seismic activity in central Arkansas after dozens of small earthquakes in the region.

Six minor quakes were recorded Friday near Quitman, the latest of more than 50 temblors in October. The Friday tremors began with a 2.0-magnitude quake around 7:45 a.m. and peaked with a 2.5 quake later in the morning. The shaking follows more than 1,000 earthquakes centered between Guy and Greenbrier from September 2010 to July of this year, when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission ordered four gas disposal wells shut down and voted to create a large moratorium area in which no future disposal wells could be drilled. Geologists said the activity - which involves injecting pressurized liquid into the ground - was likely contributing to the shaking.


The quakes between Guy and Greenbrier tailed off significantly in August, but more quakes began occurring in October closer to Quitman. It sits about 10 miles northeast of Guy. That distance is potentially concerning, warned Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey. The Quitman quakes are occurring along the same line as the Guy-Greenbrier ones, but there's a miles-long gap between Guy and Quitman in which no quakes have been recorded. That might suggest that the tension is building, possibly leading up to a larger quake centered on that gap along the fault. A similar-sized gap occurred on the southern end of the Guy-Greenbrier fault and it in February unleashed a 4.7-magnitude quake, the largest of any of the recent tremors. Anytime there is a gap in seismicity along an active fault, it "bears watching," Ausbrooks said. "I'm not saying that's what it is," he said. "I don't want to scare people and I don't want to say it's going to happen. It's just something we're looking at."


The 4.7 tremor was felt across Arkansas and in neighboring states, though no injuries or major damage was reported. It and the other hundreds of smaller quakes that rumbled the area helped convince the Oil and Gas Commission to take action. So why is the shaking continuing if the drilling has stopped? Ausbrooks has a few ideas, though he said the phenomenon is still very much under investigation. Officials have already placed one temporary quake-monitoring station near Center Ridge and he said another will likely be placed elsewhere in the region in the next two weeks. "We're kind of beefing back up because of this renewed seismicity," he said. Ausbrooks said the shaking could be purely natural. Earthquakes continued for years after drilling ended at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado, where an injection well is thought to have initially triggered seismic activity. The continuing shaking could also be related to ongoing drilling activity about 8 miles outside of Quitman, Ausbrooks said, though he noted that's a significant distance. Or it might be tied somehow to the plugging of one of those four shuttered wells. Ausbrooks said he couldn't preliminarily pinpoint how the plugging of a well would induce quakes, but the shaking in Quitman started just days after the northernmost of the four closed wells was plugged. "Right now, we'll just say it's a coincidence," he said. - Arkansas Online.

Several weeks ago, scientist from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) explored an earthquake zone southwest of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ).

USGS Media Release:

Between Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tenn., scientists have found evidence of an earthquake source capable of magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes located at the southwestern end of the ancient Reelfoot Rift. This is the same geologic structure that hosts the New Madrid seismic zone which is responsible for the major earthquakes that occurred in the midcontinent almost 200 years ago.  

The geologic proof includes large, visible sand blows formed by strong ground shaking, and subsurface geophysical imaging of faulting nearby. Field observations and radiocarbon dating suggest that the sand blows formed as the result of two to four earthquakes between 4,800 and 10,000 years ago.

As part of the Eastern Section of the Seismological Society of America meeting in Little Rock, Oct. 17-18, scientists from around the world will examine this evidence of the prehistoric earthquakes exposed in a trench that was excavated across one of the prominent sand blows. Geological techniques used to map sand blows, feeder dikes, and related ground failure to characterize faulting will also be shared.

When:     Sunday, Oct. 16, 12 p.m.

Who:     Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and other earthquake experts from around the world.

Where:      Lee Road 232, Marianna, Ark., GPS coordinates 34.705229,-90.801787: a site of large and weathered sand blows that formed between 4.8 and 10 thousand years ago in the Marianna area. The site is approximately 1.5 hours from Memphis and 2 from Little Rock. Please contact Heidi Koontz at hkoontz@usgs.gov for exact directions.

Why:      Major earthquakes have occurred in the New Madrid area for centuries. Scientists are studying geologic and geophysical clues to better understand what has occurred prior to the historic record of earthquakes in order to better understand what is likely to occur in the future.

These stories seems to be pointing towards an imminent and monumental geological upheaval along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, doesn't it?