Quake Shaking Area 6x Larger than San Andreas: Quake in Kentucky is Just the beginning in Series of Earthquakes
New Madrid fault seismic zone is showing signs of activity as an earthquake struck western Kentucky.
The New Madrid fault seismic zone is six times larger than the more famous San Andreas fault zone in California, and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Scientists tell us that the New Madrid fault is about 30 years overdue for a major event, and because of the nature of the Earth’s crust in that part of the country, a major earthquake would do significant damage all the way to the east coast.
A big Hollywood blockbuster was named after the San Andreas fault, but the truth is that the New Madrid fault line has the potential to do vastly more damage. That is why what happened in a remote section of western Kentucky very early this morning was so alarming…
An earthquake near La Center, Kentucky was felt in parts of Illinois and Missouri early on Sunday morning.
According to the National Weather Service in Paducah and the USGS, a magnitude 3.5 was recorded about 8.7 miles north of La Center and 24.2 miles west of Paducah. It happened around 1:12 a.m. and had a depth of about 8.3 miles.
Quite often, there are “foreshocks” that warn us that a major earthquake is coming to a particular area, and many are wondering if this event qualifies.
Most Americans don’t tend to think of the middle of the country as an area that is in danger from earthquakes, but the truth is that some of the worst earthquakes in U.S. history have taken place along the New Madrid fault.
In our time, the U.S. Geological Survey has admitted that the New Madrid fault zone has the “potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought,” and we have seen the number of significant earthquakes in the middle part of the country more than quintuple in recent years.
If a magnitude 7 or magnitude 8 earthquake were to strike along the New Madrid fault today, the damage that would be done would be absolutely unimaginable because of the nature of the Earth’s crust in this region.
And it is also important to keep in mind that there are 15 nuclear reactors along the New Madrid fault zone, so if a massive earthquake did strike the region we could be looking at Fukushima times 15.
