Where does New Madrid fault line run?
Where does New Madrid fault line run?
The New Madrid Fault extends approximately 120 miles southward from the area of Charleston, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, through Mew Madrid and Caruthersville, following Interstate 55 to Blytheville, then to Marked Tree Arkansas.
What type of fault line is the new Madrid?
The New Madrid seismic zone of the central Mississippi River valley has been interpreted to be a right-lateral strike-slip fault zone with a left stepover restraining bend (Reelfoot reverse fault).
When was the last time the New Madrid Fault was active?
February 7, 1812
It was December 16, 1811, and it was the first of at least three very large (M7 or greater) earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks to rock the region that winter, with the last occurring on February 7, 1812.
What would happen if the New Madrid fault line went off?
Nearly 200 schools and over 100 fire stations would be damaged; 37 hospitals and 67 police stations would be inoperable the day after the earthquake in the state of Missouri. Thousands of bridges would collapse and railways would be destroyed, paralyzing travel across southeast Missouri.
What is rock faulting?
A fault is a fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock. Faults allow the blocks to move relative to each other. Earth scientists use the angle of the fault with respect to the surface (known as the dip) and the direction of slip along the fault to classify faults.
How often does the New Madrid fault have earthquakes?
Paleoseismic studies concluded that the New Madrid seismic zone generated magnitude 7 to 8 earthquakes about every 500 years during the past 1,200 years.
What caused the New Madrid Seismic Zone?
New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–12 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Some Earth scientists suggest that fracturing in this region resulted from stresses brought on by the downcutting of the Mississippi River into the surrounding landscape between 10,000 and 16,000 years ago.
When was the Great New Madrid Earthquake?
December 16, 1811
At 2:15 a.m. on December 16, 1811, residents of the frontier town of New Madrid, in what is now Missouri, were jolted from their beds by a violent earthquake.
What caused the New Madrid earthquake 1811?
The main shock that occurred at 2:15 am on December 16, 1811, was a result of slippage along the Cottonwood Grove Fault in northeastern Arkansas. It was followed by at least three large aftershocks with magnitudes that ranged from 6.0 to 7.0 over the course of the next 48 hours.
Which sides of faults tend to be more eroded?
The rock near the fault line might be more easily eroded than the adjacent rock, so it might form a fault-line valley where the upthrown side is topographically higher than the downthrown side.
Why do some rocks fold while others are faulted?
When rocks deform in a ductile manner, instead of fracturing to form faults or joints, they may bend or fold, and the resulting structures are called folds. Because the strain rate is low and/or the temperature is high, rocks that we normally consider brittle can behave in a ductile manner resulting in such folds.
How was the New Madrid fault line formed?
The New Madrid Fault Zone is part of an ancient plate boundary. In this area, the North American Plate tried to form a divergent plate boundary about 500 million years ago. The splitting stopped before new plates could form. Earthquakes occur because the North American Plate is still “settling down”.
