I have written a few pieces on the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the devastation which would occur if a major quake hits that area. I will post one of my pieces at the end of this article.
From weatherboy.com
The three earthquakes struck within an hour of each other; the epicenter of each is at the orange dot contained inside the concentric colored circles. Image: USGS
Dozens of people used the USGS website’s “Did you feel it?” reporting tool to report shaking they felt from earthquakes that rattled Kentucky and Tennessee last night. The epicenter of the three earthquakes wasn’t far from the center of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, or NMSZ for short.
The first earthquake struck near Ridgely, Tennessee at 8:49 pm last night. At a depth of 6.6 km, the magnitude 2.6 earthquake was too weak to create any damage or injuries.
The second earthquake was substantially stronger than the first, but was also generally weak in the scheme of things and also caused no damage nor injuries. That magnitude 3.0 event struck near Calhoun, Kentucky at 9:45 pm from a depth of 6 km.
The third earthquake happened just 4 minutes after the prior one; a magnitude 2.5 quake struck in nearly the same location as the earlier Calhoun, Kentucky earthquake. This quake was very shallow though, with USGS reporting a depth of only 0.7 km.
While last night’s earthquakes were relatively inconsequential with no damage reports, authorities are concerned that people aren’t properly prepared for when a big earthquake will strike this region. The matter of a larger destructive earthquake in this area is more of a matter of “when” rather than “if.” These earthquake in Tennessee in particular was within the New Madrid Seismic Zone, or NMSZ for short; while it and the other two quakes were far from significant, they struck in an area where a significant earthquake will happen again at some point in the future.
The New Madrid Seismic zone remains active and another large earthquake strong enough to shake the entire eastern United States continues to loom. Image: USGS
The NMSZ has a violent history that experts say will repeat itself, although no one is sure when it’ll happen.
December 16 marks the anniversary of the first of three major quakes to strike the United States during the winter of 1811-1812, a violent time in seismological history of the region that scientists say will be repeated again.
While the US West Coast is well known for its seismic faults and potent quakes, many aren’t aware that one of the largest quakes to strike the country actually occurred near the Mississippi River. On December 16, 1811, at roughly 2:15am, a powerful 8.1 quake rocked northeast Arkansas in what is now known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The earthquake was felt over much of the eastern United States, shaking people out of bed in places like New York City, Washington, DC, and Charleston, SC. The ground shook for an unbelievably long 1-3 minutes in areas hit hard by the quake, such as Nashville, TN and Louisville, KY. Ground movements were so violent near the epicenter that liquefaction of the ground was observed, with dirt and water thrown into the air by tens of feet. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt the quake in the White House while church bells rang in Boston due to the shaking there.
But the quakes didn’t end there. From December 16, 1811 through to March of 1812, there were over 2,000 earthquakes reported in the central Midwest with 6,000-10,000 earthquakes located in the “Bootheel” of Missouri where the New Madid Seismic Zone is centered.
The second principal shock, a magnitude 7.8, occurred in Missouri weeks later on January 23, 1812, and the third, a 8.8, struck on February 7, 1812, along the Reelfoot fault in Missouri and Tennessee.
The main earthquakes and the intense aftershocks created significant damage and some loss of life, although lack of scientific tools and news gathering of that era weren’t able to capture the full magnitude of what had actually happened. Beyond shaking, the quakes also were responsible for triggering unusual natural phenomena in the area: earthquake lights, seismically heated water, and earthquake smog.
Residents in the Mississippi Valley reported they saw lights flashing from the ground. Scientists believe this phenomena was “seismoluminescence”; this light is generated when quartz crystals in the ground are squeezed. The “earthquake lights” were triggered during the primary quakes and strong aftershocks.
Water thrown up into the air from the ground, or the nearby Mississippi River, was also unusually warm. Scientists speculate that intense shaking and the resulting friction led to the water to heat, similar to the way a microwave oven stimulates molecules to shake and generate heat. Other scientists believe as the quartz crystals were squeezed, the light they emit also helped warm the water.
During the strong quakes, the skies turned so dark that residents claimed lit lamps didn’t help illuminate the area; they also said the air smelled bad and was hard to breathe. Scientists speculate this “earthquake smog” was caused by dust particles rising up from the surface, combining with the eruption of warm water molecules into the cold winter air. The result was a steamy, dusty cloud that cloaked the areas dealing with the quake.
The February earthquake was so intense that boaters on the Mississippi River reported that the flow of the water there reversed for several hours.
The area remains seismically active and scientists believe another strong quake will impact the region again at some point in the future. Unfortunately, the science isn’t mature enough to tell whether that threat will arrive next week or in 50 years. Either way, with the population of New Madrid Seismic Zone huge compared to the sparsely populated area of the early 1800s, and tens of millions more living in an area that would experience significant ground shaking, there could be a very significant loss of life and property when another major quake strikes here again in the future.
There have been other recent earthquakes in North Carolina, New York, and Ohio but these seismic events aren’t related to last night’s earthquakes in Kentucky in Tennessee. Source
From 2018:
Jesus said:
‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24 7-13).
Brethren, are we not living through this passage of Scripture? Rhetorical question.
Father God, help us to use Your Holy Word to show unbelievers that we are in the end of the end days. Help us to lead others to You in these dark times in which we live. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
