“Thanks to a recently completed $260 million seismic retrofit, the bridge—a chokepoint for traffic in the central U.S.—is now fortified.”
Three little symbols explains all future earthquakes: $$$
‘As I drove across the I-40 bridge into Memphis, I was reassured...’
Wow, thats quite a start for any story!!! He’s either very brave or has never been to Memphis before.
We’ve had our earthquake: Baracky Obomba.
The short answer is yes.
The New Madrid fault is overdue for a major earthquake.
A series of quakes in 1811 and 1812 changed the course of the Mississippi River.
Two 7+ mag earthquakes on one day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%9312_New_Madrid_earthquakes
Maybe, but California is.
Yes.
It is not the faults that have small quakes regularly that are worrisome. It is the ones that are quiet. When they let go things get dicey.
Yes it is, and Yellowstone Caldera Supervolcano is due to erupt, too.
Here is a study covering likely consequences of a heavy ground shake from New Madrid. The I-72 crossing at Hannibal, Mo. may be the closest river spanning bridge likely to be usable immediately after a seismic event.
http://www.cusec.org/documents/scenarios/2009_Scenario_MAE_Center_Vol_II.pdf
Grew up along the New Madrid fault, and read all the stories about the “Big One” in 1811. Also spent a lot of time at Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee, which was created by the quake.
Needless to say, the region is long overdue for another massive quake, and it will create devastation unlike anything you’ve ever seen. While some key infrastructure in Memphis has been hardened (like the DeSoto Bridge), the rest of the spans would fall into the Mississippi, including a key rail link.
Likewise, the building code in the region doesn’t include the earthquake provisions you find in southern California and Japan. the I-40 bridge may survive, but the vast majority of structures from Memphis north to southern Illinois will be flattened. The death toll will dwarf anything in recent U.S. history and you’ll have hundreds of thousands of people without home, food or water.
To give you some idea of how much “shaking” the fault is capable of, take a look at a topographical map of eastern Arkansas. About 30-40 miles west of the Mississippi River, there is suddenly a rise in elevation of 200-500 feet called Crowley’s Ridge. After passing over the ridge, the terrain returns to flat, delta land. Most geologists and seismologists believe the formation is directly related to the fault. They also believe the Mississippi once ran west of Crowley’s Ridge.
A catastrophic quake along the New Madrid fault will give a new meaning to the term “The Big One”
To me the most astonishing thing about the article was how the author felt he had to throw in politics into a “science” article. He attacks the “right-wing” and drags in Alex Jones and Infowars, etc.
I guess he has to show his bosses that he’s still on their plantation, even though he has visited middle America.
Rick