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Seismic St. Louis

Emily Sekine
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I'm interested in better understanding the ongoing geological processes that shape St. Louis and the Mississippi Valley region. So far, I've been looking into the history of seismicity in the region, focusing on the fascinating but little known history of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 -- the most devastating earthquakes to have hit the US east of the Rockies. I've also been exploring how St. Louis and surrounding areas are dealing with the possibility of another earthquake occurring in the future. According to one article I read, one of the biggest uncertainties is what would happen to the heavily engineered Mississippi River in the case of another major tremblor. The shaking could break the levees, flooding wide areas along the river and creating cascading effects. The flow of the river might also reverse completely, as occurred during the New Madrid earthquakes.

On these possibilities and the lack of scientific consensus surrounding intraplate seismicity in this zone, see this article in The Atlantic.

On current efforts to create earthquake hazard maps in St. Louis, see this overview on the US Geological Survey site.

For a deeper dive into the history of the New Madrid earthquakes, see this book by historian of science Conevery Bolton Valencius. 

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braeden.perdue
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This article shows that the NJ Turnpike Authority responded to this infrastructural hazard when the Newark Bay Extension Bridge (between Newark and Bayonne which links all points west of Jersey City and Bayonne to the Holland Tunnel), showed serious structural deficiencies. 

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braeden.perdue
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Flooding is a major vulnerability of the Greater Newark area. There are large portions of the area that are extremely vulnerable to flooding, and have suffered substantial damage in the past, and to this day. Notably, the Ironbound and Airport/Port areas of Newark sustained a lot of flooding during the recent hurricanes and major storms.

Greater Newark's Infrastructural Vulnerability

Infrastructure Is an Environmental Issue-PECE_ANNOTATION_1523842464-The article describes infrastructure as something that needs to be built with a focus on people as well as the environment.