New Madrid Fault Finders Guide: A Set of Self-Guided Field Tours in the "World's Greatest Outdoor Earthquake Laboratory" : The New Madrid Fault Zone

by Ray Knox, David M. Stewart

The greatest sequence of earthquakes in the history of the lower 48 states took place in 1811-12 along the Mississippi River between Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. These unprecedented and unsurpassed cataclysms left more than 5,000 square miles of permanently disturbed earth manifesting thousands of faults, fissures, landslides, sand boils, and other morphoseismic landforms. This book is a set of self-guided tours of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, complete with maps, detailed road logs, photographs, and a guide to the best restaurantes and local cuisine. See for yourself. take a day. Spend a weekend. Take an earthquake vacation. Visit the most active fault zone in Mid-America. Drive down "Earthquake Alley." Fall into an earthquake crevasse. Walk on a sand boil. Stand in an explosion crater. Fish an earthquake lake. Fina a lost city. View where the MIssissippi River ran backwards. Climb a seismic slump. See the world's largest seismic sand boil. Talk to a witness tree. Explore historic New Madrid. Written with geologic accuracy and rigor, it is an ideal guide for geology classes, yet it is also written for amateurs and the public at large. The New Madrid Seismic Zone is the largest outdoor earthquake laboratory in the world, and, perhaps, the most famous. This book provides education, entertainment, and enjoyment for everyone.

180 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995