New Madrid Fault

A temblor shook the southeastern part of the state in the area of the New Madrid fault. No damage or injuries were reported. The magnitude-3.7 quake was centered about 15 miles west-northwest of New Madrid, officials said.

A temblor shook the southeastern part of the state in the area of the New Madrid fault. No damage or injuries were reported. The magnitude-3.7 quake was centered about 15 miles west-northwest of New Madrid, officials said.

A scientist's warning that an earthquake could strike the Midwest on Dec. 2 seems to have shaken the seismic confidence of people in the Heartland. It was Iben Browning, a climatologist who claims to have forecast the Bay Area quake of last Oct. 17 but whose theories are disputed by most seismologists, who made the reckoning. Along the New Madrid Fault, the example of the Northern California quake, coupled with Browning's projection, has raised awareness of earthquakes and the risks they bring.

Finding fault around here is easy. Interpreting it is not. The New Madrid fault, which cuts through five states along the Mississippi River, ruptured with three of the most monstrous earthquakes ever during the winter of 1811-12. Legend has it the ground shook so violently that the Mississippi ran backward and folks as far off as Canada trembled. So Midwesterners have to wonder: Will it ever happen again?

An earthquake along part of the New Madrid fault zone rattled parts of southeastern Missouri early Saturday but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said. The magnitude of the quake was estimated at between 3.0 and 3.4.

A major earthquake in the central United States will give some soils the consistency of quicksand, toppling even many quake-resistant buildings, officials said Wednesday. E. Erie Jones, executive director of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium, a seven-state disaster preparedness agency, urged that building codes and land-use regulations be changed to prepare for the liquefaction risks in an earthquake.

One man's prediction of an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault from Illinois to Mississippi will prove to be a total non-event, a geologist said. But many residents waited anxiously for today to come and go, the day New Mexico climatologist Iben Browning said was the most likely for a quake. Skeptics partied to music like "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and ordered Jell-O for dessert so they could watch it wiggle.

Finding fault around here is easy. Interpreting it is not. The New Madrid fault, which cuts through five states along the Mississippi River, ruptured with three of the most monstrous earthquakes ever during the winter of 1811-12. Legend has it the ground shook so violently that the Mississippi ran backward and folks as far off as Canada trembled. So Midwesterners have to wonder: Will it ever happen again?

Iben Browning holds dozens of patents in several specialties, but it's his earthquake projections that are stirring up notoriety he says he'd rather do without. Browning said at a conference in Missouri last year there was a high probability of an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault this Dec. 2. He was deluged by calls. He insists that he did not predict an earthquake. "The public always wants everything in black and white," Browning said.

Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis are vulnerable to an earthquake more powerful than the temblor that rocked and ravaged the San Francisco Bay Area last month, scientists told Congress recently. The New Madrid, Mo., Fault, within easy striking distance of these and other cities, spawned quakes in excess of magnitude 8.0 in 1811 and 1812, forming lakes, altering the path of the mighty Mississippi River and ringing church bells in Boston. The Oct. 17 California quake measured magnitude 7.

Glancing out the window as he drove along a narrow county road in Missouri's Bootheel region, Dave Hoffman noticed a cut-away hillside in an auto salvage yard. He was visiting the area near Bloomfield, about 140 miles south of St. Louis, and found himself on the road by happenstance. But for Hoffman, Missouri's state geologist, stumbling upon a slice of bare earth was like a kid finding an unknown playground. Hoffman pulled over and asked the salvage yard owner if he could take a look.

An earthquake along part of the New Madrid fault zone rattled parts of southeastern Missouri early Saturday but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said. The magnitude of the quake was estimated at between 3.0 and 3.4.

Pssst. Heard the latest disaster prediction? The word is the Mississippi River is going to overflow. That should happen say about Wednesday when all the folks along the river who've been stockpiling water for the Big Earthquake finally pour it down the drain. For months a major portion of the Midwest and South, from about Memphis, Tenn., to St. Louis and beyond, braced for the Big One. Schools in parts of four states declared holidays. Earthquake insurance sellers reaped a fortune.

One man's prediction of an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault from Illinois to Mississippi will prove to be a total non-event, a geologist said. But many residents waited anxiously for today to come and go, the day New Mexico climatologist Iben Browning said was the most likely for a quake. Skeptics partied to music like "Shake, Rattle and Roll" and ordered Jell-O for dessert so they could watch it wiggle.

"Only fools, charlatans and liars predict earthquakes." That unkind assessment of those who claim to know when the Earth is most likely to shudder has been attributed to the legendary pioneer in seismology, Charles Richter. The quote has become part of the folklore of the dark art of predicting earthquakes, and many would say it is as true today as when it was allegedly muttered by the Caltech scientist who gave the world its earthquake magnitude scale.

There's no one alive who remembers the last big earthquake here, it happened so long ago. For that very reason, residents don't get shaken up by talk of tremors, even though scientists have been warning for years that the heartland is due for a doozy. This monster quake, seismologists say, could be the worst natural disaster in American history. The losses could be staggering. Still, folks sitting right on top of the potentially deadly New Madrid Fault only yawned.

There's no one alive who remembers the last big earthquake here, it happened so long ago. For that very reason, residents don't get shaken up by talk of tremors, even though scientists have been warning for years that the heartland is due for a doozy. This monster quake, seismologists say, could be the worst natural disaster in American history. The losses could be staggering. Still, folks sitting right on top of the potentially deadly New Madrid Fault only yawned.

"Only fools, charlatans and liars predict earthquakes." That unkind assessment of those who claim to know when the Earth is most likely to shudder has been attributed to the legendary pioneer in seismology, Charles Richter. The quote has become part of the folklore of the dark art of predicting earthquakes, and many would say it is as true today as when it was allegedly muttered by the Caltech scientist who gave the world its earthquake magnitude scale.

A scientist's warning that an earthquake could strike the Midwest on Dec. 2 seems to have shaken the seismic confidence of people in the Heartland. It was Iben Browning, a climatologist who claims to have forecast the Bay Area quake of last Oct. 17 but whose theories are disputed by most seismologists, who made the reckoning. Along the New Madrid Fault, the example of the Northern California quake, coupled with Browning's projection, has raised awareness of earthquakes and the risks they bring.

Iben Browning holds dozens of patents in several specialties, but it's his earthquake projections that are stirring up notoriety he says he'd rather do without. Browning said at a conference in Missouri last year there was a high probability of an earthquake along the New Madrid Fault this Dec. 2. He was deluged by calls. He insists that he did not predict an earthquake. "The public always wants everything in black and white," Browning said.