USGS Confirms Missouri Quake Hit Beneath Railroad Tracks

Here's a new one for you. What's the one place you've never heard of an earthquake happening under in Missouri? If you answered railroad tracks, go ahead and put a check in that box as the USGS has confirmed that's what's happened today in Missouri.

There's no reason for alarm as this wasn't a large quake by any means, but the USGS has just confirmed a 1.7 magnitude quake happened just west of New Madrid, Missouri Tuesday. It's not the size that's interesting. It's the location. I zoomed into the USGS map and saw that the epicenter was directly underneath the railroad tracks just west of I-55. That line under the star with the dashes across is the railroad.

Infographic, USGS

If you zoom into street view on Google, this is the approximate location of the Tuesday quake

USGS Confirms Missouri Quake Hit Beneath Railroad Tracks

As of this writing, no one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS which does not surprise me. A 1.7 wouldn't wake up a squirrel if it happened directly under his/her/its nest. Only those who are earthquake nerds like me will likely care about a measly 1.7 magnitude quake, but the fact that it happened underneath where the railroad travels reminded me of the potential disruption of transportation and travel if a major quake were to strike this part of Missouri someday. Can you imagine how we would deal with the many goods that cross this part of America every day if the railroad tracks and bridges were out of commission for a long amount of time? That's why being prepared before it happens is vital. You never know when that 1.7 might someday become a catastrophic 7.1 shaker.