Newswise — As Midwesterners learn this morning about today's earthquake in Illinois, Missouri S&T's David Rogers is available to discuss why Midwest earthquakes pack a more powerful punch than California quakes. Please let us know how we may assist with any earthquake-related story.
Dr. J. David Rogers, the Karl F. Hasselmann Chair of geological engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, says Midwestern earthquakes are potentially more powerful than California quakes. According to Rogers, unique geology in the Midwest increases the shaking intensity of earthquakes because seismic energy moves through the dense bedrock at very high speeds, then becomes trapped in soft sediments filling river channels and valleys. Rogers and several graduate students have been modeling synthetic seismic events in the New Madrid region, which produced magnitude 8.0 quakes in 1811 and 1812. Most of their scenarios are modeled after an 1895 earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 that was centered in Charleston, Mo. The preliminary results are sobering, says Rogers, who is a member of Missouri's Seismic Safety Commission. Data indicates ground shaking would be magnified about 600 percent within the flood plain of the Missouri River, a development that would cause most of Missouri's existing long-span bridges to collapse. "You don't even need a really big earthquake to do significant damage in Missouri," Rogers says. "It could happen tomorrow."
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