ARKANSAS, USA — Many in Arkansas were shocked to feel a level 5.1-magnitude earthquake on Friday evening, originating in the central Oklahoma area.
Although Arkansas isn't known for normally being the spot of seismic events, the Natural State has still felt its fair share of earthquakes, according to the Arkansas Geological Survey (AGS).
For example, the state dealt with some particularly strong earthquakes measuring over magnitude 7.5 in northeastern Arkansas between 1811 and 1812. "Cabins collapsed, people were frightened, and the land surface was severely changed by liquefaction," AGS said.
In 1843, a specific spot in southeastern Poinsett County had two large earthquakes in the same year, measuring at 4.2 and 6.2 magnitude.
Arkansas history of Earthquakes
New Madrid Seismic Zone
The most seismically active area east of the Rocky Mountains is an area in the Mississippi Valley called the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes much of northeastern Arkansas.
The New Madrid Seismic Zone is a region in southern Mississippi and northeastern Arkansas where thousands of small-to-moderate earthquakes have been recorded since 1974.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the faults that produce these earthquakes are not easy to see on the surface of the New Madrid Seismic Zone because they've been eroded by river processes and buried under river sediment.
The zone lies deep in the earth and consists of a series of faults (fractures) at a weak spot in the earth's crust. The New Madrid Seismic Zone runs about 150 miles from Arkansas into Missouri and Illinois.
Recent Earthquakes in Arkansas
- Marked Tree, Ark.
- 4.6-magnitude earthquake
- Wednesday, March 24, 1976, at 6:41 p.m.
- Mena, Ark.
- 4.3 magnitude
- Thursday, June 2, 1977, at 6:29 p.m.
- Vilonia, Ark.
- 4.2 magnitude
- Friday, May 4, 2001, at 1:42 a.m.
- Caraway, Ark.
- 4.1 magnitude
- Thursday, February 10, 2005, at 8:04 a.m.
- Manila, Ark.
- 4.2 magnitude
- Sunday, May 1, 2005, at 7:37 a.m.
- Greenbrier, Ark.
- 4.1 magnitude
- Friday, February 18, 2011, at 2:13 a.m.
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