Project: Formosa Plastics Global Archive
The Formosa Plastics Global Archive supports a transnational network of people concerned about the operations of the Formosa Plastics Corporation, one of the world's largest petrochemical
Image
Austin Rhetoric Field Team
This essay will serve as the workspace for the Austin Anthropocene Campus Rhetoric Field Team.
Seismic St. Louis
Emily SekineAnnotation of
In response to
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.
Ian Ferris describes the methods and focus of the Rhetoric Field Team of the Austin Anthropocene Field Campus.