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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.02.08 23:31l 61 Lines 2992 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Feb 7
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
February 7, 1812
Earthquake causes fluvial tsunami in Mississippi
On this day in 1812, the most violent of a series of earthquakes
near Missouri causes a so-called fluvial tsunami in the
Mississippi River, actually making the river run backward for
several hours. The series of tremors, which took place between
December 1811 and March 1812, were the most powerful in the
history of the United States.
The unusual seismic activity began at about 2 a.m. on December
16, 1811, when a strong tremor rocked the New Madrid region. The
city of New Madrid, located near the Mississippi River in
present-day Arkansas, had about 1,000 residents at the time,
mostly farmers, hunters and fur trappers. At 7:15 a.m., an even
more powerful quake erupted, now estimated to have had a
magnitude of 8.6. This tremor literally knocked people off their
feet and many people experienced nausea from the extensive
rolling of the earth. Given that the area was sparsely populated
and there weren’t many multi-story structures, the death toll was
relatively low. However, the quake did cause landslides that
destroyed several communities, including Little Prairie,
Missouri.
The earthquake also caused fissures--some as much as several
hundred feet long--to open on the earth’s surface. Large trees
were snapped in two. Sulfur leaked out from underground pockets
and river banks vanished, flooding thousands of acres of forests.
On January 23, 1812, an estimated 8.4-magnitude quake struck in
nearly the same location, causing disastrous effects. Reportedly,
the president’s wife, Dolley Madison, was awoken by the tremor in
Washington, D.C. Fortunately, the death toll was smaller, as most
of the survivors of the first earthquake were now living in
tents, in which they could not be crushed.
The strongest of the tremors followed on February 7. This one was
estimated at an amazing 8.8-magnitude and was probably one of the
strongest quakes in human history. Church bells rang in Boston,
thousands of miles away, from the shaking. Brick walls were
toppled in Cincinnati. In the Mississippi River, water turned
brown and whirlpools developed suddenly from the depressions
created in the riverbed. Waterfalls were created in an instant;
in one report, 30 boats were helplessly thrown over falls,
killing the people on board. Many of the small islands in the
middle of the river, often used as bases by river pirates,
permanently disappeared. Large lakes, such as Reelfoot Lake in
Tennessee and Big Lake at the Arkansas-Missouri border, were
created by the earthquake as river water poured into new
depressions.
This series of large earthquakes ended in March, although there
were aftershocks for a few more years. In all, it is believed
that approximately 1,000 people died because of the earthquakes,
though an accurate count is difficult to determine because of a
lack of an accurate record of the Native American population in
the area at the time.
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