A resurfaced explainer on the New Madrid earthquakes is drawing attention online for one startling reason: It recounts how the most powerful earthquake in modern U.S. history briefly made the Mississippi River run backward.
According to Popular Mechanics, seismologist Otto Nuttli later estimated the three main shocks at roughly 7.2, 7.1, and 7.4 on the body-wave magnitude scale. In later work, he suggested even larger surface-wave magnitudes, which could make the Feb. 7 quake the largest ever documented in the continental United States if those estimates are correct.
The renewed interest centers on the New Madrid earthquake sequence, a series of massive quakes that struck the central U.S. between December 1811 and February 1812. Although the region is far from the country's best-known seismic hotspots, the shaking was so intense that islands were swallowed, new lakes formed, and the Mississippi River was dramatically reshaped.
The first major quake struck on Dec. 16, 1811, followed by huge aftershocks and additional major quakes on Jan. 23 and Feb. 7, 1812. One longtime resident, Eliza Bryan, described "a violent shock of an earthquake" and "the roaring of the Mississippi," adding that the river's current turned "retrograde for a few minutes."
The New Madrid earthquakes were "intraplate" earthquakes, meaning they occurred in the middle of a tectonic plate rather than near a plate boundary like California's San Andreas Fault.
Even in the early 1800s, when the region was far more sparsely populated, the quakes caused widespread destruction.
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Landslides tore through river bluffs, cabins collapsed so often that many residents reportedly moved into tents, and the shaking was felt hundreds of miles away. Bells were said to have rung in Boston, and Dolly Madison was reportedly awakened in Washington, D.C.
With the region far more populous today, experts put the odds of a similar New Madrid event in the next 50 years at about 7% to 10%.
Bryan's firsthand account called the scene "truly horrible," capturing the fear of residents who had no modern explanation for what they were experiencing.
A fault line in the middle of North America was able to unleash a catastrophe powerful enough to briefly reverse a major river.
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