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Is Middle America Due For a Huge Earthquake?
The Atlantic ^ | June 23, 2016 | Peter Brennan

Posted on 06/28/2016 7:56:44 AM PDT by C19fan

As I drove across the I-40 bridge into Memphis, I was reassured: chances were slim that a massive earthquake would wrest the road from its supports, and plunge me more than a hundred feet into the murky Mississippi. Thanks to a recently completed $260 million seismic retrofit, the bridge—a chokepoint for traffic in the central U.S.—is now fortified. It’s also decked out with strong-motion accelerometers and bookended by borehole seismometers to record convulsions in the earth.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: beachfrontvegas; earthquake; earthquakes; quake; temblor
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1 posted on 06/28/2016 7:56:44 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: C19fan

“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: $$$


2 posted on 06/28/2016 7:58:10 AM PDT by sagar
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To: C19fan

‘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.


3 posted on 06/28/2016 7:58:35 AM PDT by 556x45
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To: C19fan

We’ve had our earthquake: Baracky Obomba.


4 posted on 06/28/2016 7:58:50 AM PDT by HomerBohn (Liberals and Slinkys: Good for nothing but make you smile as you shove them down the stairs.)
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To: C19fan

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.


5 posted on 06/28/2016 7:59:57 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: C19fan

Two 7+ mag earthquakes on one day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811%E2%80%9312_New_Madrid_earthquakes


6 posted on 06/28/2016 8:00:42 AM PDT by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: C19fan

Maybe, but California is.


7 posted on 06/28/2016 8:01:33 AM PDT by Genoa
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To: Dilbert San Diego

They had fracking back then?


8 posted on 06/28/2016 8:05:25 AM PDT by lacrew
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To: C19fan
Is Middle America Due For a Huge Earthquake?

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.

9 posted on 06/28/2016 8:06:13 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: Genoa
Maybe, but California is.

Hey, California's not Middle America's fault!


10 posted on 06/28/2016 8:10:47 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (Donald Trump, warts and all, is not a public enemy. The Golems in the GOP are stasis and apathy)
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To: C19fan
The historical precedent of the New Madrid Fault is why the USGS closely monitors that fault right now. One major quake and we could have trillions in damage to the St. Louis metro area and around Memphis.
11 posted on 06/28/2016 8:11:02 AM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's Economic Cure)
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To: C19fan
Is Middle America Due For a Huge Earthquake?

Yes it is, and Yellowstone Caldera Supervolcano is due to erupt, too.

12 posted on 06/28/2016 8:13:16 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: C19fan; Travis McGee

13 posted on 06/28/2016 8:15:52 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Yo-Yo

The supervolcano, unlike Old Faithful, is not particularly periodic.

If it erupts next year, it won’t be early. If it doesn’t erupt for another 10,000 years, it won’t be late.


14 posted on 06/28/2016 8:17:31 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: C19fan

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


15 posted on 06/28/2016 8:17:55 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
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To: lacrew

You have a valid point. Because earthquakes caused by plate tectonics or other natural forces are not man-made and can’t be regulated. So any such earthquake will deemed to the result of “fracking” or “climate change” or maybe even “secondhand smoke”.


16 posted on 06/28/2016 8:18:21 AM PDT by glennaro
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To: glennaro

Bush’s fault...


17 posted on 06/28/2016 8:30:08 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Genoa

Personally I believe that the western half of Oregon and Washington will probably go also as a large number of Californians have migrated there also and turned them into mini-Californias, only with less sunshine.

18 posted on 06/28/2016 8:34:04 AM PDT by fireman15 (The USA will be toast if the Democrats are able to take the Presidency in 2016)
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To: Yo-Yo

and Yellowstone Caldera Supervolcano is due to erupt, too.


Yes. I was surprised when I read the FEMA top-worry list early in this article that Yellowstone wasn’t listed.


19 posted on 06/28/2016 8:47:32 AM PDT by samtheman (Trump For America.)
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To: C19fan

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”


20 posted on 06/28/2016 9:02:24 AM PDT by ExNewsExSpook
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