The New Madrid Fault – What is It Due?

QUESTION: This is the start of more volcanic and earthquake activity. Everyone thinks about the west coast when they think about quakes, but what about the center of the country and the New Madrid fault. What is the timeline for it

GB

ANSWER: The last big one was 1811-1812. There were actually four earthquakes during this period between December to February with the last one sending the Mississippi River reversing its course and flowing North for a brief period. The first struck on December 16th, 1811 at 2:15 am with an epicenter in northeast Arkansas. The second struck the same day December 16th, 18,11 which the sun was rising at 7:15 am still with the epicenter in northeast Arkansas. The third struck on January 23rd, 1812 at 9:15 am with an epicenter around New Madrid, Missouri. The third earthquake to strike was February 7th, 1812 at 3:45 am with an epicenter near New Madrid, Missouri.

This one appears to be due in 2035. However, we have some additional data that was recently given to us with the more minor events post-1811. There was a flurry of small quakes in 2017. We are running this through our models to see what it comes up with. We will report on the results of that correlation when complete to see if that changes the due date.