Small Cluster of Quakes Recorded Near New Madrid Thursday

After several days of quiet, the New Madrid Seismic Zone woke up a bit early Thursday morning with a mini-swarm of tremors that almost no one else detected other than the USGS which has confirmed them.

I check the USGS earthquake site every day just to keep tabs on what the earth beneath our feet in Missouri is up to and I don't remember seeing anything for the past several days which isn't entirely unusual, but it's not typical either. Today, it was a different story as there were a couple of quakes clustered close together on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River across from southern Missouri.

Infographic, USGS

The reason no one else noticed this other than earthquake nerds like me is these were both very minor quakes in the 1.6 to 1.8 range. Even if you had a farm right on top of where they were centered, you'd probably never feel a thing which is the way we prefer it. One was a 1.8 magnitude quake and the other was 1.6 and they both happened early Thursday morning.

Why share such small earthquakes?

A valid question and there are two answers. First, sometimes I'll see overly-sensational YouTube channels jump on something like this and claim these mini-swarms are a precursor to a major New Madrid Fault event. Sure, they could be, but the USGS will tell you that you can't know if a small quake was a precursor to a major quake until that major quake happens. There's no science to support predicting earthquakes yet, no matter what some YouTube channels try to infer. Second, you need to know that Missouri is one of the most seismically-active regions in America with the potential for a quake that would rival the worst in even California which is known for its infamous San Andreas Fault. Missouri hasn't had a quake large enough to be damaging as long as I can remember, but you need to have an emergency plan ready knowing that it's possible and it will likely strike with zero warning if it does happen.