UPDATED   1-18-13

There have been many reports of booming sounds all around the country
and people are correlating those booming sounds with earthquakes.
According to the reports - this is the 4th largest quake in Kentucky history.
Experts are relating it to the New Madrid fault, though it seems
quite far east.

In one of the dream featured below, the map shown to me by the old
woman showed cracks deep under the earth that relate to this type
of event however, though it's been quite awhile since I had that
particular dream, there have been a lot of quakes that could
related to that dream. 

EARTHQUAKE MAP FROM ED DAMES
PREDICTED FOR THE FUTURE

 

ANOTHER 4.7 QUAKE HITS BEFORE STORM DOES 2-27-11 A 3.5 QUAKE OCCURRED ON 3-1-11 If you felt some swaying before Sunday night's heavy windstorm hit St. Louis, you're not alone. Experts say a 4.7-magnitude earthquake in Arkansas on Sunday night was felt here in St. Louis — about a half-hour before a fast-moving storm blew through with hail and 70 mph winds. Jessica Sigala, geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the Arkansas quake hit about 35 miles north of Little Rock at 11 p.m. Sunday. Sigala said it was felt in at least five other states. More than 7,000 people, including some in St. Louis and as far away as Tennessee, have told the center they felt the quake. Those who felt it in the St. Louis area reported it as an intensity of 2, which is very weak. It may been have felt by people here who live on upper floors, she said. "That's actually normal," she said. "You can see that in a lot of earthquakes, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. The farther you get from the earthquake, from the epicenter, it is normal to feel it in high-rise buildings." More people perhaps felt it because it was at night and they were winding down, Sigala said. Coincidentally, that was about the time that St. Louis television weather forecasters were flashing colorful warnings about heavy winds and possible tornadoes approaching the metro area. At 11 p.m. in Franklin County, for example, the National Weather Service says they were getting reports of large hail and a funnel cloud near the town of Villa Ridge. At the same time, hail and heavy wind gusts were in St. Charles County. Kelly-Kate Pease, who lives in a Central West End high rise, said she felt her bed start to sway at 11 p.m. She said she was alarmed that winds were causing that movement at her condo, while weather forecasters were saying the storm was still 30 minutes away. Turns out, it wasn't the storm's winds that were making her condo sway. It was the earthquake in Arkansas, Sigala says. Copyright 2011 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. All rights reserved. Posted in Metro, Illinois, Stcharles on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 9:01 am Updated: 11:03 am. | Tags: National Weather Service, U.s. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center, Arkansas Earthquake, St. Louis Storms,     4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Arkansas Today   Feb 18-2011  The U.S. Geological Survey has reported 29 earthquakes in the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy since Sunday with 16 occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5. A  4.7 magnitude quake was felt in Faulkner County just before 5 a.m. today. The Associated Press said more than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months, since October 2010. USGS Engineers and Geologists are still  amiss to find the cause. "The cause is still a mystery to us", said a USGS spokesman,"but we are working on it".

2-16-11 - DREAM - I was on my computer in Wisconsin somewhere. I had  three IM's going because of a huge earthquake that shook a largee area in the midwest - probably the New Madrid.   We didn't lose electricity, which was a good thing, and I could communicate with other people who had experienced the same thing I just had - and we found out that the United States was completelhy severed in half at the Mississippi River. When daylight came, I went outside to find out what things looked like and went to the Mississippi River divide and to my shock, the river was actually at least 1,000 feet lower from where I stood and looked very small at the bottom of the cliff that now divided Wisconsin from Minnesota. I was stunned to see this because I've been to that spot before, and Wisconsin and Minnesota were divided by the Missippi at that point but had been equal in altitude before. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There would be no way to get from one side of the river to the other now except to fly or take a fast boat if one still existed at the bottom of the cliff. I saw no people, just lots of trees. The trees on the ot her side of the river looked very tiny in comparison to those on my side of the river because they were so far down now. Dee Finney here is the current earthquake map. link to maps:  http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/ Arkansas closeup  A noted geologist from the University of Missouri-Columbia says his research of earthquakes in China may hold clues as to where the next big earthquake will hit in the Midwest. This year marks the bicentennial of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812, which are the biggest earthquakes known to have occurred in the central U.S. But if Mian Liu, professor of geological sciences at the University of Missouri is correct, the next big quake will occur someplace other than the New Madrid fault system. Professor Liu examined records from China, where earthquakes have been recorded and described for the past 2,000 years. Surprisingly, Liu discovered that during that time period, big earthquakes have never occurred twice in the same place. "In north China, where large earthquakes occur relatively frequently, not a single one repeated on the same fault segment in the past 2,000 years," Liu said. "So we need to look at the big picture of interacting faults, rather than focusing on the faults where large earthquakes have occurred in the recent past." Liu and fellow researchers Seth Stein, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University, and Hui Wang, a Chinese Earthquake Administration researcher, believe the New Madrid quake may have loaded increasing stresses on the Wabash Valley Seismic fault system. It extends through the lower Wabash Valley, near the borders of Southern Illinois and Southwestern Indiana. "The two areas seem likely to be mechanically coupled in that stress transfer following large earthquakes in one could affect earthquake occurrence in the other," Liu wrote. "Numerical modeling indicates that stress transfer following the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes may be loading faults in the Wabash Zone." The last major quake to occur along the Wabash Seismic Zone was on April 18, 2008, when a magnitude 5.2 quake centered near Belmont, Ill., was felt across a wide area of the Tri-State. Researchers are now using GPS to test their theory. "GPS measurements in the past two decades have found no significant strain in the New Madrid area," Liu said. © 2011 Evansville Courier & Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. >

Report FROM New Madrid Fault area: The surface rupture of the roads and highways is out of control. Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 11:19 AM Subject: New Madrid quake is next One of my psychic friends says the New Madrid area is the next event that will happen.  And if it does, then all that oily Gulf mess will pour into the hole it leaves when the land sinks.  This country deserves it... _____________________________________________ http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/earth_changes/news.php?q=1277830900 Is anyone following the tectonic pressure .... Hello Raye; I live on the New Madrid fault. And I can tell you this. The surface rupture of the roads and highways is out of control. Also, everyday of the week, the structure of my moms home is "cracking" and shifting. You can hear the walls and the surface crack. Nearby is a dollar general store. In that parking lot there are 3 flagpoles that "vibrate" violently. (not shaking from wind) Each and everyday, the roads "blow" up potholes. U.S. 41 is ruptured severely. Interstate 65 is also badly damaged. They keep trying to repave them but it doesn't work. The Cline Ave bridge at points is closing. This bridge and off ramps leads right into Inland steel and LTV steel and BP Amoco. So far, I believe 5-7 bridges have been shut down or are scheduled for closing because they are unsafe. I monitor the earthquakes daily. And as you know there are far too many happening too quickly. I believe the general public has been misled. In my opinion, the 2012 shift is happening now, but everyone has been conditioned to believe that they still have time to prepare for the main event. Thats b.s. It doesn't happen all at once. In Momence Illinois, some of the buildings are beginning to "sink". In Cedar Lake Indiana, the same is happening. The bottom line is this; Buildings are cracking, parking lots can't be fixed, roads and bridges are closing every week, sidewalks are sinking and sinkholes are opening everywhere. At time day or night, you can literally feel the earth "vibrate" below your feet. I'm in Northwest Indiana, and I believe we are about to get hit with a earthquake of biblical proportions. We are surrounded by propane, natural gas and BP Amoco refineries. And, I'm more than concerned what will happen when the new madrid erupts. best regards Bob

Newly Found Fault Could Cause US Quake By JON GAMBRELL , AP   LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Jan. 23, 2009) - A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said Wednesday. Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward. This is a Mississippi River island about 15 miles southeast of Marianna, Ark., where a scientists said he has discovered a fault that could produce a magnitude 7 earthquake Acres of cotton fields cover the fault west of Marianna, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, but stretches of fine sand mixed with fertile soil gave away the fault's location, Al-Shukri said. Liquefied sand bubbled up through cracks in the earth, while ground radar and digs showed vents that let the sand reach the surface, he said.   The fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history. Such temblors cause massive destruction in their wake.   "This is a very, very dangerous (area) at risk of earthquake," Al-Shukri said. "When you talk about (magnitude) 7 and plus, this is going to be a major disaster."   Al-Shukri did not identify a time frame for the potential earthquake

Scientists have pinpointed a set of faults in the Midwest that cause severe earthquakes every 500 years. The quakes are so powerful that they can cause the Mississippi River to temporarily flow backwards.     Arkansas Quakes Could Offer Warning By JON GAMBRELL, AP posted: 11-28-08   filed under: National News, Natural Disasters News, Science News   LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Nov. 28, 2008) - A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come. By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.   “The potential for generating a high-magnitude earthquake is real," said Haydar Al-Shukri, director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.   Five earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.2 to 2.7 have hit central Arkansas this month. Quakes with a magnitude of 2.5 to 3 are typically the smallest felt by people.   While hundreds of earthquakes occur each year, including several in Arkansas, the location of the recent ones give Al-Shukri pause. Arkansas quakes generally occur in the state's northeast corner, part of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, where three temblors with magnitudes of around 8 struck during the winter of 1812 and smaller ones continue today.   But central Arkansas does not have any seismic history, Al-Shukri said. "It is abnormal. It is significant," he said. "We need to carefully watch this activity."   The area does not have any permanent seismograph, so researchers asked the University of Memphis in Tennessee if they could use its portable equipment. The nearest seismographs aren't close enough to provide the detailed readings scientists need to determine what could be causing the tremors or properly locate their origin, said Scott Ausbrooks, the geohazard supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey.   "I don't know if you've looked at a map of where these events are located, but they've got a scatter on them," he said. "We're thinking this is probably the inherited error built in when you try to locate events of this small a magnitude from that far away."   Ausbrooks said officials would install the three seismographs around Magnet Cove, a Hot Spring County community near where a magnitude-2.7 earthquake hit on Nov. 1. Residents told police dispatchers they heard what sounded like an explosion.   One possible culprit could be a hydrothermal quake, caused by extremely hot fluid pushing into rocks under the surface. The hot fluid percolates into the cracks of the rocks and causes movement, Al-Shukri said.   That theory matches the geologic history of the area. Central Arkansas is home to Hot Springs, a city that grew up around its namesake spas. The springs have 143-degree waters rushing to the surface continuously.   If that's the case, the earthquakes likely wouldn't pose a drastic danger to the area, Al-Shukri said. At their strongest, such quakes reach only a magnitude of 5, the U.S. Geological Survey's threshold for "moderate."   However, if the earthquakes are caused by a previously unknown fault, that could mean a much more powerful temblor in the future. A recently discovered fault in eastern Arkansas near Marianna caused an earthquake with a magnitude of between 7.2 and 7.5 in the past 5,000 years, Al-Shukri said. That could cause widespread, heavy damage.   "Now, it's not active, but in geologist time, that's yesterday," he said.   Ausbrooks wouldn't speculate on what could be causing the earthquakes, saying he wanted to see what data the seismographs capture. However, he acknowledged an unknown fault could be running through the area.   "There are numerous faults across the state, both known and unknown," Ausbrooks said. "This area has got a lot of faults associated with it from the mountain building of the Ouachitas, but they're considered inactive."   Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.   NEW MADRID Mag. 2.0 April 23 07:21:26 36.270 -89.500 7.2 2 km (1 mi) WNW of Ridgely, TN Mag. 1.7 April 23 17:05:49 35.530 -84.500 10.9 5 km (3 mi) ENE of Niota, TN Mag. 1.8 April 23 22:54:59 36.520 -89.580 7.1 3 km (2 mi) E of Marston, MO Mag. 1.5 April 24 05:12:34 36.490 -89.550 8.4 6 km (4 mi) ESE of Marston, MO Mag. 2.5 April 25 00:45:46 35.910 -89.950 12.2 4 km (2 mi) SW of Blytheville, AR Mag. 1.9 April 25 01:17:28 35.770 -90.150 0.4 9 km (5 mi) W of Victoria, AR Mag. 2.4 April 23 07:11:19 36.270 -89.500 7.1 2 km (1 mi) WNW of Ridgely, TN   USGS Downgrades Magnitude of Aftershock to 4.0 Created: 4/21/2008 1:28:14 AM (KSDK) -- An aftershock originally believed to be a 4.5 magnitude earthquake, has been downgraded to a 4.0 quake. The earthquake happened at 12:38 a.m. on Monday about five miles from Mt. Carmel, Illinois A much weaker 2.2 aftershock was recorded in the same area at 7:58 a.m., which was too weak to be felt in St. Louis. There have been no reports of additional damage or injuries. The tremor follows a weekend filled with aftershocks following a 5.2 earthquake that occurred at 4:37 a.m. Friday. The United States Geological Survey reports 19 aftershocks between the initial quake and including this morning's two tremors. Seismologists say aftershocks can last for a week or more following an earthquake.   Another Earthquake Strikes Southern Illinois Along Wabash Valley Fault Line April 21, 2008 5:45 a.m. EST Linda Young - AHN Editor Mount Carmel, IL (AHN) - A 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Illinois early Monday morning, the latest in a string of 18 earthquakes in the region since a 5.2 magnitude quake struck Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage. It was the strongest quake since Friday. None of the previous 16 aftershocks since the initial quake on Friday was above 3.9 magnitude. The quake struck at 12:38 a.m. CT about 131 miles east of St. Louis and 37 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana. It was centered five miles northwest of Mount Carmel and about 11 miles southeast of West Salem, according to reports. Friday's earthquake occurred in West Salem and there were reports of minor damage. The earthquake on Friday was the first in the region in 40 years. The initial quake was felt as far north as Chicago and west in St. Louis. These earthquakes are on what is known as the Wabash Valley fault. "The largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- damaged southern Illinois in 1968," the USGS told CNN news. That 1968 quake, however, was on a different fault line. It was on the New Madrid fault line that extends north to Chicago and south to Memphis. The 1811 and 1812 earthquakes on that fault line were among the largest in the nation. The 1811 quake rang church bells 1,000 miles away in Boston, Massachusetts. The 1812 quake caused a change in the course of the Mississippi River and damage was reported as far away as Charleston, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.   A magnitude-5.2 earthquake, centered 131 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri, shook southern Illinois early Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were few reports of damage immediately after the predawn quake, which struck at 4:36 a.m. (5:36 a.m. ET), but CNN affiliate WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, showed footage of rubble left in a street after a cornice fell off a brick building there. The epicenter of the earthquake was about three miles below ground, six miles northwest of Mount Carmel, Illinois, and 38 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana, according to the USGS Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.   This map from the U.S. Geological Survey Web site shows the center of an earthquake that rocked the Midwest at 5:37 a.m. today.  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/ 10/270_40.php . . . . . http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/32.42.-95.-85.php Region:                            ILLINOIS Geographic coordinates:            38.520N,  87.872W Magnitude:                        5.4 Mw Depth:                            5 km Universal Time (UTC):             18 Apr 2008  09:36:56 Time near the Epicenter:          18 Apr 2008  03:36:56 Local standard time in your area: 18 Apr 2008  01:36:56 Location with respect to nearby cities:   12 km (7 miles) E (90 degrees) of West Salem, IL   14 km (8 miles) NE (53 degrees) of Bone Gap, IL   14 km (9 miles) W (266 degrees) of Allendale, IL   67 km (41 miles) NNW (335 degrees) of Evansville, IN  206 km (128 miles) E (93 degrees) of St. Louis, MO http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/35.37.-89.-87.php Earthquake rattles Illinois 4-18-08 Story Highlights NEW: Minor damage reported as far away as Louisville, Kentucky NEW: Air traffic halted as control tower evacuated in Indianapolis Magnitude-5.2 tremor strikes southern Illinois at 4:36 a.m. Quake is centered 131 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri (CNN) -- A magnitude-5.2 earthquake, centered 131 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri, shook southern Illinois early Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were few reports of damage immediately after the predawn quake, which struck at 4:36 a.m. (5:36 a.m. ET), but CNN affiliate WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, showed footage of rubble left in a street after a cornice fell off a brick building there. The epicenter of the earthquake was about three miles below ground, six miles northwest of Mount Carmel, Illinois, and 38 miles north-northwest of Evansville, Indiana, according to the USGS. Don't Miss WRTV: Earthquake felt across Indiana People as far north as southern Michigan and as far west as Des Moines, Iowa, reported feeling the quake, according to The Associated Press. Air traffic was halted for an hour at Indianapolis International Airport while the control tower was evacuated, CNN affiliate WRTV-TV in the Indiana city reported. At least 30 people reported feeling the quake in Clarksville, Tennessee -- 227 miles south of the epicenter -- according to the USGS Web site. Buildings swayed in Chicago's Loop and people were shaken awake in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the AP reported. People as far away as southwest Michigan and northeast Georgia e-mailed CNN to say they felt the tremor. "It shook our house where it woke me up," David Behm of Philo, Illinois, told the AP. "Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It's not like California." Radio talk-show host George Noory said he felt the quake in his St. Louis home. "Everything shook," Noory said. "I thought the building was going to collapse." Bonnie Lucas, who hosts a morning show at WHO-AM in Des Moines, told the AP she felt her chair move for five seconds. The USGS said the largest historical earthquake in the region -- magnitude 5.4 -- shook southern Illinois in 1968. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved. All About Earthquakes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earthquake shakes central Indiana, Illinois Associated Press Friday April 18, 2008 West Salem, Ill. A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor. The quake just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, Iowa, 450 miles northwest of the epicenter, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage. “It shook our house where it woke me up,” said David Behm of Philo, 10 miles south of Champaign. “Windows were rattling, and you could hear it. The house was shaking inches. For people in central Illinois, this is a big deal. It’s not like California.” Bonnie Lucas, a morning co-host at WHO-AM in Des Moines, said she was sitting in her office when she felt her chair move. She grabbed her desk, and then heard the ceiling panels start to creak. The shaking lasted about 5 seconds, she said. The quake shook skyscrapers in Chicago’s Loop, 240 miles north of the epicenter, and in downtown Indianapolis, about 160 miles northeast of it. Irvetta McMurtry of Cincinnati said she felt the rattling for up to 20 seconds. “All of a sudden, I was awakened by this rumbling shaking,” said McMurtry, 43. “My bed is an older wood frame bed, so the bed started to creak and shake, and it was almost like somebody was taking my mattress and moving it back and forth.” Lucas Griswold, a dispatcher in West Salem, said the Edwards County sheriff’s department received reports of minor damage and no injuries. “Oh, yeah, I felt it. It was interesting,” Griswold said. “A lot of shaking.” Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Todd Ringle in Evansville said there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The organization’s Web site said earthquakes occur irregularly in the area, and that the largest historical earthquake in the region — also a magnitude 5.4 — caused damage in southern Illinois in 1968. "Just hang tight and let us find out what is going on, but get educated and learn what to do when there is an earthquake," said Pam Bright, director of public information and outreach for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. She said that information is available at the department's Web site at www.in.gov/dhs. Earthquake felt in northern Indiana    Posted: April 18, 2008 02:21 AM PST FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - A moderate earthquake shook many residents in their beds this morning in northeastern Indiana.  According to the United States Geological Survey, Earthquake Information Center, the earthquake occurred at 5:37 am Indiana time this morning and was a magnitude 5.4. The epicenter for this earthquake was 7 miles from west Salem Illinois and 61 miles north northwest of Evansville Indiana. The Associated Press reports that tall buildings were swaying in Indianapolis. According the USGS a quake of the same magnitude was recorded with an epicenter in west Salem, Illinois in 1968. The 1968 quake was felt across 23 states. The most famous quake along the New Madrid fault happened in New Madrid, MO in 1812 when it was reported that the Mississippi flowed the opposite direction or 'backwards'. Friday's earthquake comes on the anniversary of the Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake that ranks as one of the most significant of all time. Links with more information: U.S. Geological Survey World Data Center   United States Educational Seismology Network Wabash Valley Seismic Zone The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake   Yet Another EQ - 3 Miles From New Madrid   [link to earthquake.usgs.gov] 2.5 Date-Time Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 09:13:54 UTC Sunday, January 20, 2008 at 03:13:54 AM at epicenter Location 36.630°N, 89.560°W Depth 9.9 km (6.2 miles) Region SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI Distances 5 km (3 miles) NNW (335°) from New Madrid, MO 6 km (4 miles) ENE (59°) from North Lilbourn, MO 6 km (4 miles) NE (47°) from Lilbourn, MO 172 km (107 miles) NNE (12°) from Memphis, TN 230 km (143 miles) SSE (165°) from St. Louis, MO Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.6 km (0.4 miles) Parameters Nst= 35, Nph= 47, Dmin=4.4 km, Rmss=0.08 sec, Gp= 40°, M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=A Source Cooperative New Madrid Seismic Network Event ID nmhwb0120a The New Madrid fault Located in the "Boot Heel" of Southeast Missouri, the town of New Madrid sits on a major fault that extends into Arkansas. In the early 1800's, a series of magnitude 8 earthquakes occured. Written accounts from eyewitnesses to this earthquake are quite remarkable, see more details below. The size of this event leads geologists to suspect the the New Madrid fault is a failed rift valley: a place where the North American continent almost split into two pieces. What we know from history is that if something geologic has happened in the past, it can happen in the future. Earthquakes are not a matter of *if* they will happen, but *when* they will happen   May 2, 2007) - Scientists have finally figured out what might have caused a series of devastating earthquakes that struck the Midwest nearly 200 years ago at a set of faults that has confused geologists for a long time. And the results suggest the region, still seismically active today, is going to keep shaking for a long time, and another big one will hit on the same 500-year cycle that has rocked the Heartland for as far back as records, legends and memory serve. The largest of three or four big seismic events that stretched from December 1811 to February 1812 is called the New Madrid Earthquake and had an estimated 8.0 magnitude, strong enough to cause the nearby Mississippi River to temporarily flow backward. Its epicenter was in the town of New Madrid in southeast Missouri, near the Kentucky and Tennessee state lines. Hundreds of aftershocks followed for several years. The damage from the New Madrid quake was bad enough in the early 19th century—half of the town was destroyed, but with many more people and buildings now in the area, a similar event in the region today would be devastating, seismologists and engineers agree. More to Come The seismic zone today generates about 200 tiny quakes annually, but it also let loose a magnitude 4.1 quake in February 2005 and a magnitude 4.0 quake in June 2005. The U.S. Geological Survey says there is a 9-in-10 chance of a magnitude 6 or 7 temblor occurring in this area within the next 50 years. These mid-continent temblors have long fascinated seismologists because of the mysterious origin of earthquakes that occur not at the edges but in the center of tectonic plates such as the North American Plate that underlies the continent. One team of seismologists had thought that high density pillow lavas in the lower crust beneath the New Madrid region could have pulled the crust downward and thereby generated surface stresses that triggered the quakes.   Now, Allessandro Forte of the Université du Québec à Montréal and his colleagues have arrived at a more dramatic mechanism—an ancient, giant slab of Earth called the Farallon slab that started its descent under the West Coast 70 million years ago and now is causing mayhem and deep mantle flow 360 miles beneath the Mississippi Valley where it effectively pulls the crust down an entire kilometer (.62 miles). "This remarkable localization of flow in the mantle below New Madrid, originating so deep below the surface, was completely unrecognized prior to our work," Forte told LiveScience. Slabs like this that sink oceanic crust are called subduction zones, and those adjacent to Japan produce intense and damaging seismic activity. "We have discovered an analogous subduction zone, deep inside the Earth below the central Mississippi River Valley," Forte said. Forte and his colleagues at the University of Toronto and the University of Texas based their findings on high-resolution seismic tomography images that were used to predict the topography and viscous flow of the mantle under and around North America. They used the model to focus on the New Madrid seismic zone and propose that the descending slab and associated mantle flow directly below the New Madrid seismic zone strains the overlying crust, causing seismic ruptures. The results were published in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters. Natural Disasters The Farallon plate will continue to descend into the deep mantle and thus to cause mantle downwelling in the New Madrid region for a long time. "[This] suggests that the seismic risk in the New Madrid region will not fade with time," Forte said. The fault structure under the New Madrid region is a "failed rift" created by the opening of the ocean that later became the Atlantic Ocean 650 to 600 million years ago, Forte said. That activity also caused rifts in the St. Lawrence, Saguenay and Ottawa river valleys in Canada, where there is similar mid-continental quaking, he said. Another set of faults far from the boundaries of the North American Plate are associated with the Keweenawan Rift, a 1240-mile-long rift in the area surrounding Lake Superior. (c) 1999-2007 Imaginova Corp. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.   2007-05-03

April 6, 2007 Thursday 2.5 EQ Location: 35.320N, 90.510W REGION: ARKANSAS 4 Miles NE from Parkin, Arkansas 4 Miles NW from Earle, Arkansas 12 Miles NNW from Jennette, Arkansas 34 Miles WNW from Memphis, Tennessee 229 Miles S from St. Louis, Missouri [7.9 Miles Deep] USGS April 6, 2007 Friday 2.7 EQ Location: 36.090N, 89.410W REGION: TENNESSEE 4 Miles NNW from Dyersburg, Tennessee 8 Miles WSW from Newbern, Tennessee 13 Miles SSE from Ridgely, Tennessee 74 Miles NNE from Memphis, Tennessee 181 Miles SSE from St. Louis, Missouri [6.6 Miles Deep] USGS

Editors note: The following article mentions one quake, but personal reports from the area report multiple quakes in the last 20 days. Animals in that area are very distressed. Small Earthquake Shakes Western Kentucky February 5, 2007 A small earthquake along the New Madrid Fault shook two towns in far western Kentucky, but no injuries or damages were reported. The magnitude 2.9 quake, centered 3 miles northwest of Bardwell, was recorded at 5:47 p.m. CST last Wednesday, according to the Center for Earthquake Research and Information in Memphis, Tenn. Several people in Bardwell and Wickliffe called to report the temblor, National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Garner said. The New Madrid fault runs through several states, including Missouri. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved     Expert Warns of Earthquake in New Madrid Zone It won't take a catastrophic earthquake to do catastrophic damage  by Gary Patterson, USGS June 18, 2006 AP Kansas City BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. - An earthquake expert with the U.S. Geological Survey says many residents and officials in northeast Arkansas are setting themselves and their neighbors up for a worse disaster by underestimating the results of a quake in the region. "This is a different kind of earthquake," said Gary Patterson of the United States Geological Survey Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tenn. "This is not a California earthquake," Patterson said last week at a meeting of the Arkansas Gov.'s Earthquake Advisory Council. "There are some basic differences here that drive the hazard level up." Patterson, who serves as information director and geologist for the Memphis center, said that, unlike faults in California, the New Madrid Seismic Zone contains three to five major fault segments lying over the top of each other in a relatively small area. The zone stretches from northeast Arkansas and northwest Tennessee up into southeast Missouri, far western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Big earthquakes have happened before and will happen again in this area, he said, citing the series of quakes in 1811-1812 that were the strongest ever to occur in the continental United States. But he said even a 6.5-magnitude quake has the potential of doing an enormous amount of damage in Blytheville and Mississippi County, Patterson said. "It won't take a catastrophic earthquake to do catastrophic damage," he said. One of the most potentially damaging effects of an earthquake in this area, Patterson said, will be liquefaction of soil near the surface. Huge areas of sand in fields that are visible throughout the region are evidence of liquefaction in past earthquakes, he said. Patterson said liquefaction is expected to happen mostly in the places where the Mississippi River has moved around, depositing sandy silt and gumbo clay. In these areas, the water table is 6 feet or less below the surface of the ground, and a quake will send the water to the surface, creating quicksand and eliminating the soil's ability to support loads. During the first 72 hours after a significant quake of any magnitude, Patterson said people will need to be rescued from collapsed buildings. He said 11 million people live in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, and a response plan is needed to get "boots on the ground" during that period. Patterson said he was recently visited by a Japanese diplomat who wanted to know if it was a good idea to build a truck plant in northeast Arkansas. "It is a good idea when things are built to proper codes," he said. "The name of the game is building structural type. We all have to be on the same page when we talk to these people." http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/14849167.htm

3-18-02 - I had a waking vision that an earthquake was going to occur along the Mississippi River that was so large, that it created an island to form all the way from St. Louis to the Minnesota border.  After that, I saw a man standing at a podium in Congress, named McMullen who was asking for resources. He did this twice. There are McMullens in several states, so this would be probable. NOTE: Research does not show any likelihood that this could occur, but that would make it all the more devastating if it did occur without warning.

THE NEW MADRID FAULT ZONE

Illinois, other states feel 3.9 earthquake Items compiled from Tribune news services Published June 21, 2005 CLINTON, KENTUCKY -- A small earthquake centered in western Kentucky rattled residents across parts of Illinois, Kentucky and three other states Monday morning. No damage was reported. The 3.9 magnitude quake centered near Clinton hit at 7:21 a.m. and was felt in southern Illinois, western Kentucky, southeast Missouri, northwest Tennessee and eastern Arkansas, said Diane Noserale, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va. It was the second quake to hit the area in a matter of hours along the New Madrid Fault System, Noserale said. A 2.7 magnitude quake Sunday in the same area was felt in southern Illinois and Kentucky.

Magnitude 3.7 EASTERN KENTUCKY Friday, September 17, 2004 at 15:21:43 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center World Data Center for Seismology, Denver Magnitude 3.7 Date-Time Friday, September 17, 2004 at 15:21:43 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time Friday, September 17, 2004 at 11:21:43 AM local time at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones Location 36.93N 84.01W Depth 1.2 kilometers Region EASTERN KENTUCKY Reference 45 km (25 miles) NW of Middlesboro, Kentucky 55 km (35 miles) ESE of Somerset, Kentucky 80 km (50 miles) WSW of Hazard, Kentucky 160 km (100 miles) SSE of FRANKFORT, Kentucky Source CERI Remarks mbLg 3.7 (GS). Felt (V) at Gray; (IV) at Barbourville, Corbin, London and Rockholds; (III) at Manchester and Williamsburg.

Mild earthquake rattles Central Indiana No damage or injures reported from the 3.6 magnitude quake By Stuart A. Hirsch stuart.hirsch@indystar.com September 13, 2004 A minor earthquake jostled Central Indiana awake Sunday, shaking some buildings but causing no damage or injuries. The 3.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 8:05 a.m., and was the state's first in more than two years. Its epicenter was located about seven miles north of Shelbyville, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists who study the earth said the incident was not tied to any major fault lines and did not signal more temblors to come. Hoosiers as far north as Noblesville, as far west as Martinsville and Brownsburg and as far east as Rushville found themselves asking, "Was that what I think it was?" "It didn't last long, but it sure did wake us up," said Julie Jones, a dispatcher at the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. "Our consoles were shaking and as soon as it stopped all the lines lit up." Tim Cooney, a mortgage banker who lives about two miles north of Shelbyville, thought it was another of the many National Guard helicopters that fly over his house. The Shelbyville Armory next to the Shelbyville Airport is home to an aviation support facility. Perhaps there was a crash, he thought. "My wife felt the bed swaying, and she knew right away it was an earthquake," Cooney said. "I thought my wife was off her rocker." Jason Adams, an advertising manager who lives in an apartment complex on the Northeastside, thinks his dogs Jake and Mazzy felt the quake coming. They woke up and started barking about 7:55 a.m. "They just wouldn't stop," he said. "And the next thing I knew, there was a shock wave that went through the building. I could feel the whole building move." Gary Pavlis, a professor of geological sciences at Indiana University, said the state experiences minor quakes every few years. Sunday's earthquake occurred about six miles deep, he said, in an area of structures geologists don't understand well. He said the shaking likely was set off when a rock roughly the size of a good-sized building -- say, six or seven stories tall -- shifted. According to the US Geological Survey, about 130,000 earthquakes with a magnitude of 3 to 3.9 occur every year. In 2003, there were 1,300 earthquakes in that magnitude range in the United States, according to statistics compiled by the geological survey. The most recent earthquake in the region occurred June 28, near Troy Grove, Ill. That temblor had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the geological survey's Web site. The last recorded earthquake in Indiana occurred on June 18, 2002. The temblor registered a magnitude of 5.0 and was centered near Darmstadt, about 10 miles north of Evansville. It caused little damage. While there have been major earthquakes in Indiana territory over the past 20,000 years, Pavlis said, the chances of experiencing "the big one" are far less likely than in California. "That's the perspective that people have to keep in mind," Pavlis said. "This is one of those small events that just pop off now and again that can't be related to any specific geological structures or faults." Star reporter John Strauss contributed this story. Call Star reporter Stuart Hirsch at (317) 444-2805.

Date-Time - 2002 06 18 17:37:13 UTC Location - 38.07N 87.68W Depth - 5.0 kilometers Magnitude - 5.0 Region - SOUTHERN INDIANA Reference - 10 miles (15 km) NW of Evansville, Indiana Source - USGS NEIC The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A moderate earthquake occurred IN SOUTHERN INDIANA about 10 miles northwest of Evansville at 11:37 AM MDT, Jun 18, 2002 (12:37 PM CDT in Indiana). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. The earthquake was felt in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time. Quake hits Indiana along New Madrid Faults This earthquake was widely felt including initial reports from as far away as West Virginia. The earthquake caused only minor damage in the immediate area of the event. The USGS has received reports of minor damage including broken glass, objects thrown off of shelves, and cracked chimneys. No injuries have been reported. The earthquake occurred in one of the more seismically active portions of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. A large area covering southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, and parts of western Kentucky and southeastern Missouri has earthquakes rather frequently, by eastern U.S. standards. Most years, this area has a few earthquakes large enough to be felt, but, on average, damaging earthquakes occur about once a decade. The largest earthquakes from this region in the twentieth century were the magnitude 5.5 southern Illinois earthquake of November 1968 and the magnitude 5.2 southern Illinois earthquake of June 1987. The magnitude 3.9 southern Indiana earthquake of December 7, 2000 had an epicenter very near that of today's shock. This seismicity is north and northeast of the well-known New Madrid seismic zone, which is in the bootheel of southeastern Missouri and adjacent Arkansas and western Tennessee. The earthquake occurred within the generally stable interior of the North American plate, far from currently active plate boundaries. The modern earthquakes in this part of the U.S. are thought to result from the reactivation of ancient faults, which are being squeezed by stresses from the modern motion of tectonic plates. Previous earthquakes in this area have not been associated with movement on specific geologically mapped faults. In the past 10 years, geologists working in the area have found evidence of prehistoric earthquakes in the Wabash River Valley that were probably much larger than any historical earthquakes. Geologic evidence indicates that these prehistoric earthquakes occurred several thousand years ago. Hidden Hazards In the Mississippi Valley   The Mississippi Valley -  A Whole Lotta Shakin Going On

The New Madrid Fault System extends 120 Miles southward from the area of Charleston, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, through New Madrid and Caruthersville, following Interstate 55 to Blytheville and on down to Marked Tree, Arkansas. It crosses five state lines and cuts across the Mississippi River in three places and the Ohio River in two places. The Fault is Active, averaging more than 200 measured events per year (1.0 or more on the Richter scale), about 20 per month. Tremors large enough to be felt (2.5-3.0 on the Richter scale) are noted annually. Every 18 months the fault releases a shock of 4.0 or more, capable of local minor damage. Magnitudes of 5.0 or greater occur about once per decade, can do significant damage and be felt in several states. The highest earthquake risk in the United States outside the West Coast is along the New Madrid Fault. Damaging temblors are not as frequent as in California, but when they do occur, the destruction covers over more than 20 times the area because of underlying geology. A damaging earthquake in this area (6.0 or greater) occurs about every 80 years (the last one in 1895). There is a 50% chance of such a quake by the year 2000. The results would be serious damage to schools and masonry buildings from Memphis to St. Louis. SEMA - MISSOURI STATE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION MISSOURI - SEISMIC SAFETY COMMISSION ENGLISH HILLS FAULTS The English Hills faults are located on the southeast flank of the Benton Hills in Scott County, Missouri. Originally described by geologists in the 1930s, the faults had been ignored for decades: their very existence had even been challenged. First the material displaced by faulting in the trenches is quite young geologically. It appears that, while 8 to 12 feet of vertical displacement has occurred at the trench site, most of the displacement is horizontal---how much horizontal displacement is not yet known. Modern soil profiles, which are usually less than 10,000 years old, have apparently been displaced by large earthquakes along the English Hills faults. Faulting within the past 10,000 years is considered "active." It must be assumed that active faulting will continue in the future. NEW MADRID FAULT SYSTEM MAP THE 1968 QUAKE IN ST. LOUIS THE COMMERCE FAULT OF ILLINOIS QUAKE EXPECTATIONS IN ILLINOIS A REBIRTH OF THE ILLINOIS BASIN NORTHERN ILLINOIS EARTHQUAKES - TEXT NORTHERN ILLINOIS EARTHQUAKES - PDF - WITH MAPS MINNESOTA EARTHQUAKE HISTORY NEIC - MAP SITE WISCONSIN EARTHQUAKE HISTORY IOWA NOT PREPARED FOR BIG QUAKES

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY NATIONAL EARTHQUAKE INFORMATION CENTER World Data Center for Seismology, Denver The following is from the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: Preliminary hypocenter for earthquake of 2001 Jan 26, OHIO, about 10 miles (10 km) NNW of Ashtabula, Ohio: latitude 42.0 degrees north, longitude 80.8 degrees west, origin time 03 03 19.2 utc, depth shallow, magnitude 4.2 mbLg. The earthquake was felt in northeastern Ohio, the Erie, Pennsylvania area and at Toronto, Canada. Friday January 26, 2001 - 01:01 PM EST Earthquake Hits Northeast Ohio Vibrations Felt In Pittsburgh A 4.2-magnitude earthquake hit northeast Ohio at about 10 p.m. Thursday. No one was hurt, but damage was done to homes and businesses. The earthquake was centered in Lake Erie near the town of Ashtabula. A smaller quake was reported in the same area last Friday. Officials at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh said that the quake showed up on their seismograph.

A Dream From a Reader - Texas Quake 5-18-00 Hello, everyone, I had another very lucid dream last night. My kids and I were on a drive to St. Louis, MO from Southern California. The route we took was very simple, but I will list it just the same for those who've never taken it. It is: I-10 west to I-15 north, to I-40 east, then to I-45 north. My kids, Bobby and Faye, were of elementary school age in the dream. I was driving an old Pontiac. We had reached Amarillo, TX, to stop for gas and food and to rest for the day (too hot to drive across the desert in the Texas panhandle). We went to a newly built shopping mall that was built entirely from unreinforced masonry and glass -- red brick with gray mortar. Beautiful to look at but deadly in an earthquake. It had a gray concrete multi-level parking structure, which we did not use. We chose to park in an open area that was still somewhat protected from the burning sun. While in one of those high-end designer clothing stores, I found a blank, crumpled-up piece of white paper on the floor, so I thought I'd be courteous, pick it up and throw it into the trash. The kids and I looked all around the beautifully arranged store, but couldn't find a trash can anywhere until I reached what looked like the customer service desk, where there stood a black plastic trash can that was half full. I went to deposit the ball of paper when a woman with long brown hair and wearing a simple dress (light-colored), with a burgundy, gold and white designer scarf around her neck approached me and scolded me for wanting to trash that ball of paper. I thought she had taken leave of her senses, so I went ahead and trashed the paper, then turned to exit the store with the kids. The woman yelled a threat after us, "You'll never make it out of this mall alive!! Even if you do, the desert heat will kill you." We went looking for a pay phone to call the police and report the threat when the mall started falling apart. Brick, mortar and glass were all falling to the floor everywhere we looked. Emergency doors everywhere in the mall started to close, but the kids and I got out with no problem. Then we looked around to find every building in the area totally destroyed and the freeway we had just exited (I-40 east) collapsed at a nearby bridge. I asked God what had happened (lucid -- I chose to ask). He answered, "Loma Prieta." For those who don't remember, the 7+ (or was it 8+) earthquake that collapsed the section of I-80 that goes through Oakland, CA, along with almost every building in the Marina District of San Francisco, was centered in the nearby town of Loma Prieta, CA a few years ago. I had decided to return to the car and drive back to CA. We were on our way back to the car with buildings collapsing all around us (no cars were damaged) when the dream ended. END OF DREAM

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Report: Mississippi Valley at risk of big quake November 4, 1999 WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Mississippi River Valley cities such as St. Louis and Memphis are in grave danger of being hit by a severe earthquake, geologists said Thursday. They found faults, similar to those responsible for the 1994 Northridge quake that badly damaged the Los Angeles area, all along the New Madrid fault region that extends through Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee. That region was hit by three big quakes with magnitudes greater than 7.0 on the open-ended Richter scale in 1811 and 1812 -- quakes so strong they reportedly caused church bells to ring all the way to Boston. Writing in the journal Science, a team at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Arkansas said they had found evidence that explains just why the quake threat there is so serious. "Our evidence shows the New Madrid seismic zone is indeed a threat, which contradicts a recent study of the seismic hazard of the region taken with satellite data," Karl Mueller, who led the study, said in a statement. "For the first time we can see how fast the earthquake engine is running and how long it takes to build up energy for a quake." Not only would any quake be strong, but because the valley is made up of layers of silt, the shaking would turn much of the land to jelly in a process known as liquefaction. "New Madrid is the world's most spectacular example of liquefaction," Mueller said in a telephone interview. "When you take a fine-grained, saturated sediment like mud or silt and you shake it during an earthquake, it turns to the consistency of jello." "If you have a building that is sitting on top of jello, the building falls down. The scary part about New Madrid is that ... we see liquefaction all over the place there." And people in Memphis, for example, would be caught unprepared. "They really don't think that (quakes) are a threat because they haven't happened in a lifetime," Mueller said. Mueller said he thinks his team's data is reliable because they did so many different measurements of the faults. They hired backhoe operators to dig long, deep, trenches along the Mississippi floodplain in the Reelfoot Lake region of Tennessee to expose recent deformations of the sediments. Geologists have recently been studying "blind-thrust" faults that cannot be easily seen or mapped. Such a hidden thrust-fault was responsible for the 1994 Northridge quake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, killed 57 people and caused more than $40 billion in damage. One signature of blind-thrust faults is the folding of rocks or sediments beneath the surface as they absorb the upward motion of the energy released by the faults. They found a pattern of faults linked into a forked, lightning-bolt shape. "If you know the shape of the fault, then you know where the seismic gun is pointed," Mueller said. Mueller said there is no telling just when a quake will hit, but it was likely a quake of magnitude 7.2, enough to cause serious damage to buildings, would strike within 500 years of the 1812 quake. He said right now, about three feet of "elastic energy" is stored in the fault system. "If it popped off now, that would be a Northridge-sized event," he said. "That's something in the mid-to-high 6's." Copyright 1999 Reuters Midwest debate over earthquakes growing in magnitude - May 1999 - By STEPHANIE SIMON - Los Angeles Times The New Madrid fault, which cuts through five states along the Mississippi River, ruptured into three of the most monstrous earthquakes ever during the winter of 1811-12. Legend has it the ground shook so violently that the Mississippi ran backward and folks as far off as Canada trembled.So Midwesterners have to wonder: Will it ever happen again? Seismologists long have warned that the New Madrid seems prone to tremendous tremors once every 500 years or so. The Midwest, in fact, is at bigger risk of a supersized quake than Los Angeles or San Francisco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.But using new data that show ground along the fault barely moving, a team of scientists asserted last month that New Madrid's threat has been way overstated. ``There's a reasonable chance that earthquakes like those that happened in 1811 and 1812 will never happen again,'' said Seth Stein, a professor of geological sciences at Northwestern University. What's more, Stein says that the 1811-12 quakes may have been exaggerated. The Midwest was still pioneer territory then, with few people and fewer still reliable historians. Most likely, he says, the biggest of the quakes was just a magnitude 7. Most scientists had pegged the New Madrid temblors at about 8. Stein's conclusions would seem a great relief to most Midwesterners. But no one, least of all other seismologists, knows whether they are correct. When Stein and his colleagues published their research in the journal Science, they touched off a major controversy. Leading seismologists called the conclusions ``irresponsible'' and ``misleading.'' They insisted the New Madrid fault remains extremely dangerous and called on the public to keep pushing lawmakers for tougher seismic building standards. ``We have been accused of being alarmist, Chicken Little, the sky is falling, but we don't want to minimize what we see as a legitimate long-term hazard,'' said Arch Johnston, director of the Earthquake Hazards Program at the University of Memphis. The dispute stems from the basic problem that no one understands why the Midwest has earthquakes. Most quake zones, such as California, are volatile because they perch on or near the intersection of two tectonic plates. When the plates bang against or slide on top of one another, the earth shakes. But the New Madrid region sits square in the middle of a plate. Yet scientists know from the geological record that very big quakes rocked New Madrid in the years 500, 900, 1530 and 1811-12.Eugene Schweig of the Geological Survey is convinced it will happen again -- in the next few hundred years. Stein and his colleagues disagree. They point to measurements showing that over the last six years, the ground around New Madrid has barely moved -- less than one-tenth of an inch a year. (California's San Andreas fault is shifting up to 2 inches a year.) At that rate of slippage, they figured it could take as many as 10,000 years before New Madrid erupts in another major quake.But critics point out that the New Madrid fault is buried deep, under 3,000 feet of sediment in places. So the movement of ground on the surface may not be particularly telling. In addition, because the New Madrid is located in the center of a plate, comparisons with the San Andreas may be meaningless. The Midwest's fault may have a logic all its own. Stein acknowledges that the New Madrid still can generate dangerous quakes, especially in the magnitude-6 range. Since the Midwest is poorly prepared, many buildings are not reinforced to even the most basic seismic safety standards -- ``there is a very realistic chance of major damage and loss of life during the next 50 years due to earthquakes at the New Madrid fault,'' said Joe Engeln, a University of Missouri professor who worked with Stein. March 1999 A devastating series of earthquakes estimated up to magnitude 8 ripped through the Mississippi River valley in 1811-12. A less-severe magnitude 6.6 earthquake rocked the region in 1895. Fissures split the earth, rocks flew through the air and the Mississippi River ran backwards. Scientists have long believed that magnitude-8s could occur again in 500-800 years. A magnitude-7 could occur even sooner. Seismic maps released in 1996 forecast a greater earthquake hazard than previously in the midcontinent region. Geologist Arch Johnston, who heads an earthquake center at the University of Memphis, has predicted that a magnitude 8 earthquake could occur in the New Madrid zone every 550-1,000 years. Because of shock effects, such a quake could cause tens of billions of dollars worth of damage from Mississippi to Michigan, leveling Memphis and seriously damaging St. Louis. A magnitude 7 earthquake could occur within 50-100 years, and one registering magnitude 6 could occur at any time, according to Johnston's forecasts. The Geological Survey hasn't made specific forecasts, but its hazard assessments are similar to Johnston's. But Northwestern geologist Seth Stein, lead scientist on the new study, said six years of satellite monitoring of ground movement in the New Madrid zone indicates that, at most, the Midwest should experience a magnitude 8 earthquake every 2,500-10,000 years or a magnitude 7 earthquake every 1,000 years. Their measurements found that movement of the ground was extremely slow. Having blown the pressure in the 1800's the area may have settled down for good and there may never be a quake here again. Officials at the national survey and the Ohio Geological Survey reacted angrily yesterday to Stein's report, which was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Eugene Schweig, central region coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program, said the conclusions of Stein and his colleagues are premature and are based on inadequate data. We don't understand at all what causes earthquakes in areas like this that are flat and are not on a techtonic plate boundary.

10/21/99 quakes

Precursors? 99/10/13 15:58:59 35.69N 90.27W 8.6 2.4 B 21.9 km east of Trumann, AR (C) 99/10/20 09:00:03 34.77N 91.30W 11.3 2.5 D 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Clarendon AR (C) 99/10/21 08:18:00 36.49N 91.02W 19.3 3.9Lg C 6 km north of Pocahontas, AR (C) 99/10/21 08:49:49 36.51N 91.05W 11.7 2.7 D 9 km north of Pocahontas, AR (C) 99/10/21 latitude 36.7 degrees north, longitude 91.1 degrees west, origin time 08 17 56.4 utc, depth shallow, magnitude 3.9 mbLg. The earthquake was felt in the Jonesboro, Arkansas area. There have been no reports of damage.

RECENT QUAKE CHART PAGE

Roman numerals indicate estimated Modified Mercalli intensities for a 6.5 magnitude earthquake.

MAP OF QUAKES FROM 1800 TO 1983 All red dots are quakes able to be felt by people above ground	MAP OF QUAKES FROM 1975 TO 1995 All red dots are quakes able to be felt by people above ground

2-22-99 Light Beings are attempting to stop an imminent quake on the New Madrid Fault.  If they cannot do this, it is going to be between an 8 and 9.  I have been told by the lightbeings that 4 lightworkers live in the major danger zone and they have been told to move and they have not.  I was also told that they get four warnings and that is all. If anyone has received this message personally, it's time to get out NOW!