User:Geogene/sandbox

[b]Currently Active Faults[/b]

The active faults of New Madrid are "blind", in the sense that they are buried and are not directly observable at the surface. However, they can be mapped by plotting modern earthquake epicenters. The faults appear as linear trends.

The line of earthquake epicenters from Arkansas just south of the Missouri Bootheel to the northwest corner of Tennessee traces the Cottonwood Grove fault (source:http://www.ceri.memphis.edu/people/smalley/electronic%20pubs/479.full.pdf), a right-lateral strike-slip fault system parallel to the Reelfoot Rift.(source) − 	The line that extends to the northwest from northwest Tennessee into the Bootheel is a stepover fault(source) known as the Reelfoot fault(source:http://www.ceri.memphis.edu/people/smalley/electronic%20pubs/479.full.pdf), associated with the Tiptonville dome and the impoundment of Reelfoot Lake. Epicenter locations on this fault are more spread out because the fault surface is inclined and dips into the ground, towards the south, at around forty degrees. Slip is towards the northeast. Uplift caused by this fault in the 1811–1812 series created temporary waterfalls on the Mississippi. − 		 − 	The third trend, extending northeast from the northwestern end of the Reelfoot Fault is another right-lateral strike-slip fault known as New Madrid North.