Why is There a Sudden Swarm of a Dozen Earthquakes in Missouri?

If you follow earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault Zone, you know it's not unusual to see a quake every few days or so. It is a bit unusual to see more than a dozen quakes over the span of just a few days in Missouri though. That's what's happened this week in the southern part of the Show Me State.

Get our free mobile app

I noticed on Friday morning that there were a handful of quakes that had just happened along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri. That happened a couple days earlier this week, too. I did some digging and found that over the past few days, there have been at least a dozen earthquakes in southern Missouri.

These have all been very small quakes that won't do any damage even if you live right on top of the epicenter. But, several have been large enough to have been felt by residents and according to the USGS, some have reported them.

In the past, we've mentioned that geologists estimate the New Madrid Fault is capable (and some believe overdo) to unleash at least a 7.7 magnitude quake.

What would happen if the New Madrid Fault had such a massive quake?

A recent study by the USGS says that previous estimates of what a major New Madrid quake would do are too conservative. They now believe the damage would be doubled what was previously thought with a total of nearly a billion dollars if the worst-case scenario happened.

Some geologists believe that a major quake would possibly be preceded by a mini-swarm like the one that just happened this week. To be clear, it doesn't mean that it will happen, but that it could. These tiny quakes could just be an isolated event or they could be a foreshock of something larger to come. Let's hope it's that first option.