Uh oh.
Posted on 02/10/2005 9:32:16 AM PST by Dan from Michigan
Magnitude 4.2 Quake Shakes Arkansas
12 minutes ago U.S. National - AP
CARAWAY, Ark. - A small earthquake centered in northeastern Arkansas rattled parts of several states Thursday but caused no major damage.
Shaking was felt as far away as Memphis, Tenn., and in Mississippi casinos.
A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites) said the quake, which hit at 8:05 a.m. four miles east of Caraway, had a magnitude of 4.2. A quake of magnitude 4 can cause moderate damage.
"I mean, it was shaking," said John Cannon, who was roused awake by a 2 1/2-second rumble in Memphis, 50 miles south of the epicenter. "I thought someone got in the bed with me. It was strong."
The quake was centered in the New Madrid seismic zone, which covers portions of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. One of the largest earthquakes ever to strike in North America, estimated at magnitude, 7.5 was centered at New Madrid, Mo., during a series of temblors in the winter of 1811-1812.
Mississippi County sheriff's dispatcher Helen Parker said no damage was reported but the switchboard lit up.
"Calls were from curious people who want to know what it was," Parker said. "One called to verify it, to make sure his daddy wasn't crazy."
Was Bubba Jeffy staying at his double-wide Museum and Massage Parlor?
Did the Clinton Trailerpark Library fall down?
Watch out New Madris!
I'm disappointed in our FReepers. Six posts and nothing about Hillary's butt?
Hillary visit her old "stomping grounds?"
Uh oh..............better keep an eye on the mighty Mississippi. ;)
bookmark
Uh oh.
the New Madrid fault is where the largest recorded earthquakes in the lower 48 occured, in 1811 and 1812, both over 8.
I experienced several magnitude 3 and 4 quakes, as well as a 5.2 and 5.8, while living in San Francisco several years ago. The ones over 5 will get your attention.
This little quake, in the range of 4 on the Richter scale, is 100,000 times less powerful than the December 26th quake in Indonesia. Each step in the scale is 10 times the previous, so a 5 is ten times a 4, a 6 is 100 times a 4, a 7 is 1,000 times greater, an 8 is 10,000 times greater and the 9+ quake that triggered the Tsunami is 100,000 times more powerful.
The only worry we have in the Memphis area right now is whether or not this is a pre-quake for a big one. Something I know for a fact is that this area is NOT READY for a big quake.
Of course, a big quake on the New Madrid will probably be enough to trigger off the Yellowstone supervolcano, so we won't be worried about the earthquake for long...
I remember both of them - minor, but definitely quakes.
Geeze, they stole the design from House On The Rock! I'd recognize the Infinity Room anywhere.
Oh, well; they stole everything else they ever got near.
I do. That's the New Madrid fault zone. The largest quake ever recorded in North America happened there. 1812 I believe. Look at one of those quake maps of the US with the red dots and the area in question is an unmistakable hot zone. Some day, a really bad one will strike the area again.
Pure nonsense. The Yellowstone Caldera isn't remotely close to erupting anyway, and even if it was it wouldn't be triggered by any NMSZ quake.
Not North America. A variety of Alaskan quakes have been far larger than the New Madrid sequence of quakes in 1812 and 1813.
Also the magnitude estimates for the New Madrid quakes have been revised downwards by some authors in recent years; according to some the quakes were likely smaller than the 1906 SF quake or the 1857 San Andreas Quake.
Don't hold back. Tell us what you really think.
The Yellowstone Caldera isn't remotely close to erupting anyway
Actually, there's a fairly sizable community in the USGS that think it may be. Of course "remotely close" is so elastic a term in that community.
even if it was it wouldn't be triggered by any NMSZ quake
OK, this little bit of conventional wisdom is balderdash (see, I can use mindless cliche's too). No one has discovered a mechanism to connect earthquakes over geographical distance, therefore there must not be any? Used to be there was no connection between earthquakes within the same zone, therefore it wasn't happening. That notion's been totally wiped away in the last 10 years. I won't be a bit surprised to find connective mechanisms amongst all earthquakes.
Ever heard of the "butterfly effect?" There are problems with Chaos Theory (mostly how badly it got presented to the public via Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park) but the concepts of real yet unknown (and unknowable) factors forming interconnections that we can't yet describe has come through rather intact.
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