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EARTHQUAKES
Lesson 4 - Page 5

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When these catastrophic earthquakes took place, the central United States was sparsely inhabited by settlers. Since then, this area has been developed extensively. Several major cities, including Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, Little Rock, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky are within 250 miles of the fault zone. This is well within the area devastated in 1811 to 1812.

Geologists have thus studied, and continue to study, the New Madrid Fault Zone. It is clear from their work that a devastating earthquake could happen again. As the map to the right shows, little earthquakes happen all the time. In addition, the 1811 to 1812 earthquakes have not been the only significant events in the New Madrid Fault Zone. An earthquake in January, 1843 registered a 6.0 magnitude, while on October 31, 1895 a magnitude 6.2 quake struck.

Current estimates suggest a magnitude 6.0 earthquake should occur before the year 2040. This is within your lifetime! Luckily, it seems that larger, destructive events like those in the 19th century will not happen again for several hundred years.


Earthquakes from 1969-1994

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