Posted on 03/30/2022 7:08:15 AM PDT by crz
The great mid continental rift is explained in a shorter version by DR Bill Rose, Michigan Tech. It could be the reason there are earthquakes in mid America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBqlNkD_f3o
The only place in N America this Rift can be seen. This rift runs down through Kansas and OK on the west side, and Down to Alabama on the east side.
There are longer versions out there that explain it in more detail.
Most significant earthquake in the US was in MO.
That mid continental rift is a real thing. And it could cause real problems if it let loose again. Its been 200 (+/-) since it let go.
David Wilkerson once predicted a major eruption in the middle part of the USA. I still believe that will happen, the only thing he did wrong but put a time frame in his prediction. The USA will be judged by geographical events and will most likely be destroyed. The San Andreas, New Madrid, Yellowstone Caldera, the Cascadia, and the East Coast fault will all erupt and when that happens, the USA will be no more. Count on it.
The New Madrid fault line had the strongest earthquake in American history. It caused the Mississippi River and the Ohio River to run backwards for a few hours. I was told in school they estimated there was a 20’ tidal wave that preceded the back flow.
There are areas on the Indiana/Kentucky borders that earthquake changed the geological borders. There’s a place that used to be on to be on the Kentucky side of the border that after the 1811 event is now on the north side of the river yet is still part of Kentucky. There used to be a horse racetrack there. Amazing.
The current consensus of geology and plate tectonics say the entirety of all land mass on the planet was once a single super continent (called Pangaea) which has since broken up into the continents we have today. So, if true, it seems logical that cycle would continue and the continents will continue to separate into smaller land masses from time to time and then eventually crash into each other again.
Nothing surprising about that from a scientific perspective, but from a human perspective, yes, the continental rift will eventually “let go” again and the results will be catastrophic.
The western Mountains are very young and still growing because of plate movement.
The great rift has been thought to have been mostly inactive, and suspect that they might have been wrong. Not active like the western Mountains, but no less still active.
Off from rifts like this, you have cracks, and those cracks are fault lines, obviously. And the Hew Madrid is active as are many small fault lines in mid America. Up until a few years ago, they had no idea what was under the New Madrid fault lines. That is until new technology made it possible to have a look see under there.
No doubt that the settling of the earths crust never ends. Rebound from the ice age like the British Isles? Could be, but no less, it makes for a grand time for investigations and discussions.
BTW, I have sent rock samples to Mi Tech for the teaching of introductory students about mineral identification. Going to send some more up this summer.
It is one small way anyone could assist in the teaching of geology students and anyone can do it for their own area college.
I agree with everything you wrote. I did several semesters of geology in college and I found it fascinating.
I was taught about the New Madrid quake in high school as well. I wonder if it is still taught?
There is an image in my mind of a lot of people in St Louis with the look on their faces of “No one told me about this...” as the buildings fall down around them.
Correct, currently, somewhere on the planet, landmasses (plates) are either colliding (slowly), separating (rifting), or slipping past each other 24/7/365. For example, the entire country of Saudi Arabia is moving NE at 2-3 cm/yr and is being pushed (thrusted) under the west edge of Iran where it meets the Persian Gulf. The Straights of Hormuz will be closed in ~70 Million years and the gulf will be land locked.
You have ammo???
I’d love to live long enough to see how major cities are recorded in the geologic record. First being buried in sediment then subduction then uplifted into mountains then eroded to expose the steel and concrete.
Even with a proper diet and exercise I don’t think I’ll make it that long.
“I did several semesters of geology in college and I found it fascinating.”
One of the professors up there said to me that when you hold a rock in your hands, you are looking back at the earths history. When a person looks up in the sky at night at the stars, they are looking back at the history of the universe.
I made to comment to him that once we get to the tavern, I will show him another history, after I drink a beer, its history. He chucked a rock at me. So ended a good partridge hunt that day. We got pissed to the gills making history.
Thanks for posting. It has only been 50 years or so that continental drifting and rifting took hold with geologists.
Democrats will destroy the country before earthquakes.
Yep. And FYI, California will NOT fall into the ocean when the “Big One” hits because the San Andreas Fault is a Strike Fault which means the plates are colliding against each other with the Pacific Plate moving north and the North American Plate moving south. LA and San Francisco will be neighbors in about 100 million years.
There were reports that it caused chimneys to collapse in Maine.
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