The Earthquake That Made the Mississippi Run Backward

In the winter of 1811–1812, a series of enormous earthquakes struck the Mississippi Valley near New Madrid, Missouri. The ground split open. Sand and water erupted from the earth. Riverbanks collapsed. Entire sections of land rose or sank. A new lake formed. And during the strongest earthquake, parts of the Mississippi River appeared to flow backward. But how can an earthquake reverse one of the largest rivers in North America? The answer involves fault movement, sudden uplift, earthquake-generated waves, liquefaction, and an ancient buried weakness deep beneath the continent. This is the story of the New Madrid earthquakes — one of the most powerful earthquake sequences in American history, and a reminder that some of the most dangerous faults are nowhere near the edge of a tectonic plate. #History #Earthquake #Mississippi #Geology #StrangeHistory