The New Madrid Earthquakes
From December 1811 to April 1812, the New Madrid Fault Zone experienced four
powerful earthquakes and thousands of minor ones. Their scale ranged from 7.0
to 8.1 on the Richter Scale. The first two of these occurred on December 16,
1811. Damage to the two small towns in the area, New Madrid and
Caruthersville, was significant. The landscape was permanently altered, the
Mississippi River ran backwards for a time, and Reelfoot Lake was formed.
Scottish botanist, John Bradbury, gave an account in his Travels in the Interior of
America in the Years 1809, 1810 and 1811, published in 1817. Bradbury had
accompanied the Astor Expedition of 1811 to discover a faster route to Astoria,
Oregon. As he was traveling back down the Mississippi River on his return, his
boat was tied up for the night near Chicksaw Bluffs, present site of Memphis,
Tennessee. On 16 December 1811, he experienced the first two of the New
Madrid Earthquakes. He recounted the experience in Travels in the interior of
America, in the years 1809, 1810, 1811 which was published in 1817.
After supper, we went to sleep as usual: about ten o'clock, and in the night
I was awakened by the most tremendous noise, accompanied by an
agitation of the boat so violent, that it appeared in danger of upsetting ... I
could distinctly see the river as if agitated by a storm; and although the
noise was inconceivably loud and terrific, I could distinctly hear the crash
of falling trees, and the screaming of the wild fowl on the river, but found
that the boat was still safe at her moorings.
By the time we could get to our fire, which was on a large flag in the stern
of the boat, the shock had ceased; but immediately the perpendicular
banks, both above and below us, began to fall into the river in such vast
masses, as nearly to sink our boat by the swell they occasioned ... At daylight we had counted twenty-seven shocks.”
Thanks are owed to Congressman Samuel Mitchill who collected first person
accounts of the earthquakes. Hough, Susan E., “The Magnitude of the Problem,”
SSN Opinion, Seismology Society of America, March/April 2011
“Samuel Mitchill, a representative in the U.S. Congress with training in
geology, set out to collect accounts in the hope that they would lead him to
“something like a tolerable theory of earthquakes.” Along the way he came
to appreciate the challenge of the task he set himself. “The phenomena,”
he wrote in 1815, “were described in the most fearful and alarming strains
by several writers. Much exaggeration was interwoven with some of the
narratives. Some, indeed, were tinctured with fable and burlesque.” (Many
of the accounts that likely impressed Mitchill as fable and burlesque have
in fact found support in modern science: for example the waterfalls, which
are consistent with the rupture scenario pieced together from a
remarkable marriage of modern science and detailed archival accounts.)
To arrive at what he considered reliable accounts Mitchill focused on
independent eyewitness accounts that told a consistent story.
Some of the accounts appeared to defy credulity: waterfalls appearing on
the Mississippi River, the course of the river itself temporarily reversed,
riverbanks and even entire islands collapsing.
In the end Mitchill admitted, with palpable disappointment, that he had
failed in his goal of developing a general theory of earthquakes. But he
added, “although materials may yet be wanting for a perfect theory, it is a
matter of some consolation to have assembled into one body, the
phenomena of the most memorable earthquakes that ever agitated these
parts of North America, and to have made a record of them for my
sagacious and fortunate successors.”
The primary cause of damage and injuries in earthquakes is the destruction of
manmade structures and their contents. The 1811-1812 New Madrid
earthquakes destroyed most or all of the simple buildings in New Madrid and
Caruthersville, the only two towns in the area at the time. The simple, single story
log buildings were in fact a very earthquake resistant type of construction.
Buildings in St. Louis, 150 miles or more to the north, were slightly damaged. The
damage mostly consisted of broken or collapsed stone chimneys and broken
stone buildings, a type of unreinforced masonry construction that is especially
susceptible to earthquake damage.
Featured National Standards: (Science)
Unifying Concepts and Processes - Unifying concepts and processes help
students think about and integrate a range of basic ideas which builds an
understanding of the natural world
1. Systems, order, and organization
2. Evidence, models, and explanation
Science as Inquiry - Science as inquiry requires students to combine processes
and scientific knowledge with scientific reasoning and critical thinking to develop
their understanding of science.
1. Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
2. Understandings about scientific inquiry
Science and Technology - An understanding of science and technology
establishes connections between the natural and designed world, linking science
and technology.
1. Abilities of technological design
Activity Suggestions:
1. Have students learn about the science of earthquakes, see examples of
seismograms from recent earthquakes, information related to the historic New
Madrid quakes of 1811-1812, and other information related to the program’s
topics at the St. Louis University Earthquake Center,
http://www.eas.slu.edu/eqc/eqc.html.
2. Have students learn more about the historic New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812
at websites of your own choice as well as the USGS website,
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php.
3. Have your students research the seismic hazard for your area at
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/.
4. Have each student journal on what they have learned about earthquakes in
general, the historic New Madrid quakes, etc. that they did not know. What did
they find most interesting, frustrating, unique, etc. about the topic they choose to
write on? Have them share their journal entries with a partner or with the teacher.
5. Have students compare the historic New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812 to the
San Francisco earthquake of 1906 by comparing what they learn at the websites
above to the USGS website on the San Francisco quake,
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/index.php.
6. Have your students research seismic building codes and practices and then
ask them to predict possible damage in their town compared to large cities like
St. Louis and Memphis.
7. Most earthquakes, such as the Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015, are of the
interplate type, while the New Madrid Quakes were of the intraplate type. Have
your students research these two terms and create a poster showing the
differences between the types such as definition, commonality of occurrence,
location and other interesting facts.
8. Have your students research the seismic scale is used to calculate and
compare the severity of earthquakes.
Keywords:
Science, engineering, earthquake, seismogram, seismograph, seismology,
geology, geologist, Saint Louis University, Earthquake Center, geography,
geophysics, seismic network, faults, fault lines, fault zone, seismic zone
Additional Resources:
After the Earth Quakes: Elastic Rebound on an Urban Planet, By Susan Elizabeth
Hough, Roger G. Bilham, bit.ly/1dl1zn3
Trembling Earth: Reading Level 6, By Myrl Shireman, bit.ly/1JvcO9Z
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 1812, bit.ly/1EJLPX8
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology,
http://www.iris.edu/gallery3/research/lrsp/SB17