Four minor earthquakes tracked in Missouri bootheel since Thursday

NEW MADRID COUNTY, Mo. – The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed the presence of four minor earthquakes in the Missouri bootheel since Thursday morning.

USGS officials have tracked all four earthquakes in New Madrid County, Missouri.

These include three separate 1.6, 1.7 and 2.3 magnitude earthquakes on Thursday, in addition to a 2.2 magnitude earthquake Friday morning, according to USGS reports.

EarthquakeTrack.com , which uses data from the U.S. Geological Survey, reports that all four earthquakes appear to have a similar epicenter near the city of Marston, Missouri. Each reported earthquake had a depth of 8 or 9 km, which USGS says is near average .

Coincidentally, despite USGS confirming multiple earthquakes. no public reports have been submitted to USGS officials. It seems the earthquakes either went unnoticed by locals or were simply unreported.

Despite their small sizes, the earthquakes serve as a reminder of Missouri’s susceptibility to seismic events, including those within the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

The New Madrid Seismic Zone , located in southeast Missouri and adjacent states (Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Illinois), is the most seismically active area in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. The zone generated a massive family of quakes between 1811 and 1812 that changed the course of the Mississippi River. Experts believe the New Madrid Zone has been responsible for magnitude 7 to 8 intensity earthquakes about every 500 years over the past 1,200 years.

The US Geological Survey (USGS), along with the New Madrid Seismic Network, encourages residents to report their earthquake experiences to aid scientific research .

Elsewhere, but unrelated to the four Missouri earthquakes, USGS officials confirmed a 4.7 earthquake in the Los Angeles area earlier this week, according to Nexstar affiliate KTLA .

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