Triggering of New Madrid seismicity by late-Pleistocene erosion

E. Calais (), A. M. Freed, R. Van Arsdale and S. Stein
Additional contact information
E. Calais: Purdue University
A. M. Freed: Purdue University
R. Van Arsdale: University of Memphis
S. Stein: Northwestern University

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7306, 608-611

Abstract: New Madrid earthquakes: a spreading risk The New Madrid seismic zone, in a now heavily populated area of the central United States, was responsible for the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes of magnitudes of 7 or greater. The extent of the current seismic hazard in the region is hotly debated. Eric Calais and colleagues present evidence that the geologically recent sequence of large earthquakes in this region was triggered by the rapid removal of sediments by the rivers of the northern Mississippi embayment at the end of the last ice age. Models indicate that fault segments that have already ruptured are unlikely to fail again soon, but stress changes from sediment unloading and previous earthquakes may eventually be sufficient to bring to failure other nearby segments that have not yet ruptured, indicating that the hazard may be more widespread than previously thought.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09258

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