Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WESNOUSKY, S. G. Articles by LEFFLER, L. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

The repeat time of the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes: A geological perspective

CENTER FOR NEOTECTONIC STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO, RENO, NEVADA 89557
CENTER FOR EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH AND INFORMATION MEMPHIS STATE UNIVERSITY, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 38152

Abstract

The great New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 were accompanied by extensive liquefaction within the meizoseismal zone. We examined tens of kilometers of freshly excavated ditch banks within the southern limb of the New Madrid Seismic Zone for evidence of prehistoric liquefaction events. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the exposures studied provide a record of the last 5000 to 10,000 years. Analyses of the statistics of historical seismicity imply a relatively short 550- to 1100-yr repeat time for 1811- to 1812-type earthquakes. In contrast, our search did not reveal definitive evidence of widespread paleoliquefaction events and, hence, provides no independent support for the relatively short 550- to 1100-yr return time implied by statistics of historical seismicity.

Footnotes

^* Present address: Department of Geological Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. M. Rittenour, M. D. Blum, and R. J. Goble Fluvial evolution of the lower Mississippi River valley during the last 100 k.y. glacial cycle: Response to glaciation and sea-level change Geological Society of America Bulletin, May 1, 2007; 119(5-6): 586 - 608. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Stein Approaches to continental intraplate earthquake issues Geological Society of America Special Papers, January 1, 2007; 425(0): 1 - 16. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Stein and A. Newman Characteristic and Uncharacteristic Earthquakes as Possible Artifacts: Applications to the New Madrid and Wabash Seismic Zones Seismological Research Letters, March 1, 2004; 75(2): 173 - 187. [Full Text] [PDF]

				Sinking Mafic Body in a Reactivated Lower Crust: A Mechanism for Stress Concentration at the New Madrid Seismic Zone Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, December 1, 2001; 91(6): 1882 - 1897.

				M. D. Blum, M. J. Guccione, D. A. Wysocki, P. C. Robnett, and E. M. Rutledge Late Pleistocene evolution of the lower Mississippi River valley, southern Missouri to Arkansas Geological Society of America Bulletin, February 1, 2000; 112(2): 221 - 235. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Newman, S. Stein, J. Weber, J. Engeln, A. Mao, and T. Dixon Slow Deformation and Lower Seismic Hazard at the New Madrid Seismic Zone Science, April 23, 1999; 284(5414): 619 - 621. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				J. G. Anderson, S. G. Wesnousky, and M. W. Stirling Earthquake size as a function of fault slip rate Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, June 1, 1996; 86(3): 683 - 690. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. S. Schweig, E. S. Schweig, and M. A. Ellis Reconciling Short Recurrence Intervals with Minor Deformation in the New Madrid Seismic Zone Science, May 27, 1994; 264(5163): 1308 - 1311. [Abstract] [PDF]