Words of Wisdom from SharLeigh

PLANET EARTH’S ROCK N ROLL

An earthquake is a sudden movement of the Earth’s surface caused by a release of stress in the crust. When the word “quake” is mentioned, most people think of California. But did you know that the most powerful quakes in the history of the United States were east of the Rocky Mountains? During the winter of 1811-1812, near New Madrid in the Territory of Missouri, there were four catastrophic quakes. In time, this area became known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone. These quakes were felt throughout much of the Eastern Seaboard and as far away as Quebec! New Madrid was awakened on December 16, 1811 (this was the initial quake) to a great roar; sulfur vapors were released into the air, cracks appeared on the earth’s surface and large areas of land either sunk or rose up. These quakes changed the land: new lakes were formed, the course of the Mississippi River was changed and 150,000 acres of forest was destroyed. The fourth and most powerful quake took place on February 7, 1812. A letter by Lorenzo Dow describes some of the effects the great quake had on the mighty Mississippi River. “At first, the Mississippi seemed to recede from its banks, and then its waters gathered up like a mountain, leaving for the moment many boats on bare sand. It then began rising fifteen to twenty feet and expanding at the same moment. The banks were overflowed with the retrograde (backward) current. The river, falling immediately, as rapidly as it had risen, receded from its banks again with such violence, that it took with it whole groves of young cottonwood trees, which ledged its borders. Back from the river a small distance, numerous ponds and lakes were nearly dried up. The beds of some of them were elevated above their former banks several feet, producing an alteration of ten, fifteen to twenty feet, from their original state.” As scary as all of this sounds, the New Madrid Seismic Zone is still an active area and it may one day do it all over again, so be prepared!