The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes

The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes PDF Author: Conevery Bolton Valencius
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022605392X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Get Book Here

Book Description
From December 1811 to February 1812, massive earthquakes shook the middle Mississippi Valley, collapsing homes, snapping large trees midtrunk, and briefly but dramatically reversing the flow of the continent’s mightiest river. For decades, people puzzled over the causes of the quakes, but by the time the nation began to recover from the Civil War, the New Madrid earthquakes had been essentially forgotten. In The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes, Conevery Bolton Valencius remembers this major environmental disaster, demonstrating how events that have been long forgotten, even denied and ridiculed as tall tales, were in fact enormously important at the time of their occurrence, and continue to affect us today. Valencius weaves together scientific and historical evidence to demonstrate the vast role the New Madrid earthquakes played in the United States in the early nineteenth century, shaping the settlement patterns of early western Cherokees and other Indians, heightening the credibility of Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa for their Indian League in the War of 1812, giving force to frontier religious revival, and spreading scientific inquiry. Moving into the present, Valencius explores the intertwined reasons—environmental, scientific, social, and economic—why something as consequential as major earthquakes can be lost from public knowledge, offering a cautionary tale in a world struggling to respond to global climate change amid widespread willful denial. Engagingly written and ambitiously researched—both in the scientific literature and the writings of the time—The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes will be an important resource in environmental history, geology, and seismology, as well as history of science and medicine and early American and Native American history.

Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred PDF Author: Seth Stein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 023115139X
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends that have grown around them, and the predictions of doom that have followed in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger.

The New Madrid Earthquake

The New Madrid Earthquake PDF Author: Myron L. Fuller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earthquakes
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Get Book Here

Book Description


Convulsed States

Convulsed States PDF Author: Jonathan Todd Hancock
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469662191
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Get Book Here

Book Description
The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–12 were the strongest temblors in the North American interior in at least the past five centuries. From the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a broad cast of thinkers struggled to explain these seemingly unprecedented natural phenomena. They summoned a range of traditions of inquiry into the natural world and drew connections among signs of environmental, spiritual, and political disorder on the cusp of the War of 1812. Drawn from extensive archival research, Convulsed States probes their interpretations to offer insights into revivalism, nation remaking, and the relationship between religious and political authority across Native nations and the United States in the early nineteenth century. With a compelling narrative and rigorous comparative analysis, Jonathan Todd Hancock uses the earthquakes to bridge historical fields and shed new light on this pivotal era of nation remaking. Through varied peoples' efforts to come to grips with the New Madrid earthquakes, Hancock reframes early nineteenth-century North America as a site where all of its inhabitants wrestled with fundamental human questions amid prophecies, political reinventions, and war.

Geology in the Siting of Nuclear Power Plants

Geology in the Siting of Nuclear Power Plants PDF Author: Allen W. Hatheway
Publisher: Geological Society of America
ISBN: 0813741041
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description


The New Madrid Earthquakes

The New Madrid Earthquakes PDF Author: James L. Penick
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 9780826203441
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

Get Book Here

Book Description
Previously published as: The New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812.

Investigations of the New Madrid Seismic Zone

Investigations of the New Madrid Seismic Zone PDF Author: Kaye M. Shedlock
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Geology, Structural
Languages : en
Pages : 50

Get Book Here

Book Description


Living on an Active Earth

Living on an Active Earth PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309065623
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 431

Get Book Here

Book Description
The destructive force of earthquakes has stimulated human inquiry since ancient times, yet the scientific study of earthquakes is a surprisingly recent endeavor. Instrumental recordings of earthquakes were not made until the second half of the 19th century, and the primary mechanism for generating seismic waves was not identified until the beginning of the 20th century. From this recent start, a range of laboratory, field, and theoretical investigations have developed into a vigorous new discipline: the science of earthquakes. As a basic science, it provides a comprehensive understanding of earthquake behavior and related phenomena in the Earth and other terrestrial planets. As an applied science, it provides a knowledge base of great practical value for a global society whose infrastructure is built on the Earth's active crust. This book describes the growth and origins of earthquake science and identifies research and data collection efforts that will strengthen the scientific and social contributions of this exciting new discipline.

Investigations of the New Madrid, Missouri, Earthquake Region

Investigations of the New Madrid, Missouri, Earthquake Region PDF Author: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earthquakes
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description


Active Tectonics and Seismic Potential of Alaska

Active Tectonics and Seismic Potential of Alaska PDF Author: Jeffrey T. Freymueller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111867183X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1025

Get Book Here

Book Description
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 179. This multidisciplinary monograph provides the first modern integrative summary focused on the most spectacular active tectonic systems in North America. Encompassing seismology, tectonics, geology, and geodesy, it includes papers that summarize the state of knowledge, including background material for those unfamiliar with the region; address global hypotheses using data from Alaska; and test important global hypotheses using data from this region. It is organized around four major themes: subduction and great earthquakes at the Aleutian Arc, the transition from strike slip to accretion and subduction of the Yakutat microplate, the Denali fault and related structures and their role in accommodating permanent deformation of the overriding plate, and regional integration and large-scale models and the use of data from Alaska to address important global questions and hypotheses. The book's publication near the beginning of the National Science Foundation's EarthScope project makes it especially timely because Alaska is perhaps the least understood area within the EarthScope footprint, and interest in the region can be expected to rise with time as more EarthScope data become available.