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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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seanw146
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I researched more into landfills and how they are made, located, decompose over time, and health concerns.

This article goes over the land needs for disposal as well as some of the politics of it. http://www.waste360.com/mag/waste_year_landfill

 This video explains how landfills work and how they decompose as well as their potential threats to health. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC1u6rJkyzA

This research article goes into the challenges that are faced when constructing building and other projects ontop of or near landfill sites. http://faculty.engineering.asu.edu/kavazanjian/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/32_Construction-on-Old-Landfills.pdf

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Alexi Martin
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Andrew Lakoff studies anthropology and sociology at USC. He has studied science and medicine around the world. He is interested in the implications of biomedical innovations. Stephen Collier studies anthropology and has published on infrastructure and social welfare. They are both professionally equipped  to talk about this topic because they study humans and human interactions.

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Alexi Martin
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The policy has been recieved positively by the public. Many people believe remembering 9/11 is more than a memory. It is something so drastic that affected the entire country. So everyone felt it needed to be enacted into law. The public was estatic about continuing support for innocent people who lost their lives due to the actions of others.

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seanw146
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With its large amount of citations and a wide variety of sources, we can extrapolate that this research article was made with a good deal of time and care. There are even citations to other works by Galea, but it appears that the only original research done for the article was interviewing responders and patients.

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Alexi Martin
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The main findings presented in the article is the lack of recovery in the New Orleans after Katrina and the factors that did not cause a complete rebuild. The article discusses what happened to the poor, how the residents were treated and the lack of government funding to the city- due to the levee needing to be rebuilt. The article also discusses the mental health of those who experienced Katrina and the stress that radiated from it. The article also discusses private businesses that have thrived in lieu of those who need homes, aid and basic necessities.