Could a 8 mag quake cause the Mississippi river to run backwards ? And as the droughts lowers the River levels , Mississippi river rock pinnacles have to be blasted away to ensure navigation.....

http://www.i-newswire.com/broken-river-can-the-mississippi/206694

Broken River – Can the Mississippi River Run Backwards?

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Sam Penny's novel "Broken River" tells how the Mississippi will run backwards the next time the New Madrid Fault ruptures. He offers the book for free to those who worry.

Memphis, TN (I-Newswire) December 15, 2012 - Two hundred and one years ago, on December 16, 1811, the New Madrid Fault under the Mississippi River ruptured and produced a 7.9 magnitude earthquake felt more than one thousand miles away: in Boston, Toronto, and Charleston. Legend has it that the earthquake made the Mississippi River run backwards. Could that be true? Geologic evidence tells us today that when the limestone plate beneath New Madrid, Missouri, and its surroundings was raised by the shifting of the tectonic forces on the New Madrid seismic zone from the earthquake, the southern areas were raised and the northern part fell, and the river did indeed reverse its course in some places. Lakes were created and the river waters flowed in ways no one expected. The river literally broke, and it took several months for it to find its new course. The whole land was changed. “Broken River,” the second novel of the 7.9 Scenerio by Sam Penny, tells how the Mississippi River and its tributaries could be affected today by another earthquake of the same magnitude on the New Madrid. The effects would be even more dramatic, for the river today is a man-made structure. It is a river on a hill that will overflow its banks and flood the surrounding lands. In addition, in 1811 the USA census listed only 5,000 people in the area; now there are now 32,000,000 people living in the danger zone. and..... http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/14-5 Published on Friday, December 14, 2012 by Common Dreams How the Mighty (Mississippi) Has Fallen: Historic Drought Plagues US Continuing drought forecast for already dessicated US as low river levels thwart traffic - Andrea Germanos, staff writer A WWII vessel, normally covered by water in the Mississippi River, is seen in this photo taken Dec. 14.(Photo: TeamSaintLouis via flickr) As the worst drought in decades continues to plague the US, the Mississippi River is withering towards historic lows with widespread impacts for commerce. The most recent Drought Monitor from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows nearly 62% of the contiguous United States under moderate to exceptional drought. There are 13 states that have 100% of their area in some level of drought, and three of those--Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri--are Mississippi River states. The river is under a "low-water crisis," with record low levels on the horizon. "All the ingredients for us getting to an all-time record low are certainly in place," Mark Fuchs, a hydrologist at the NOAA in St Louis, told the Guardian.  "I would be very surprised if we didn't set a record this winter." “I’ve been out here 46 years and I’ve never seen it this bad,” Darrell Alford, a 66-year-old captain of a tow boat, told Bloomberg while navigating the Mississippi. “You’re on edge all the time.” Bob Anderson, spokesperson for the Mississippi Valley division of the Army Corps of Engineers, adds: “We’ve never really had a drought quite so severe as this year.” The low levels are affecting commerce, as the river serves as a highway for transport of all manner of goods.  The Guardian adds: Shipping companies are hauling 15 barges at a time instead of a typical string of 25, because the bigger runs are too big for current operating conditions. Barges are being sent off with lighter loads, making for more traffic, with more delays and back-ups. Stretches of the river are now reduced to one-way traffic. A long cold spell could make navigation even trickier: shallow, slow-moving water is more likely to get clogged up with ice. [...] "There are so many issues at stake here," said George Foster, owner of JB Marine Services. "There is so much that moves on the river, not just coal and grain products, but you've got cement, steel for construction, chemicals for manufacturing plants, petroleum plants, heating oil. All those things move on the waterways, so if it shuts down you've got a huge stop of commerce." The Guardian's Suzanne Goldenberg reports on the river in this video: In an effort to keep traffic moving along the river KMOV St. Louis reports that "the Army Corps of Engineers will begin blasting the riverbed in an effort to keep the channel open for barge traffic." In addition to being seen as a sign of further climate change-induced disasters to come, the drought and its effects on river traffic have real economic costs. The Guardian reports that "about $7bn in vital commodities typically moves on the river at this time of year – including grain, coal, heating oil, and cement." And Weather Undergroundco-founder Jeff Masters wrote in November: Sandy's damages of perhaps $50 billion will likely be overshadowed by the huge costs of the great drought of 2012. While it will be several months before the costs of America's worst drought since 1954 are known, the 2012 drought is expected to cut America's GDP by 0.5 - 1 percentage points, saidDeutsche Bank Securities this week. “If the U.S. were growing at 4 percent, it wouldn’t be as big an issue, but at 2 percent, it’s noticed,” said Joseph LaVorgna, the chief U.S. economist at Deutsche. Since the U.S. GDP is approximately $15 trillion, the drought of 2012 represents a $75 - $150 billion hit to the U.S. economy. This is in the same range as the estimate of $77 billion in costs for the drought, made by Purdue University economist Chris Hurt in August. The hope of the drought and its effects ending soon is bleak.  The NOAA foresees "drought conditions lingering or intensifying over much of the central and western United States." and.... http://www.times-gazette.com/latest%20headlines/2012/12/15/corps-ridding-miss-river-of-rock-pinnacles-close CORPS: RIDDING MISS. RIVER OF ROCK PINNACLES CLOSE By JIM SUHR Associated Press Published: December 15, 2012 4:00PM ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers said Friday it was finalizing how soon crews could begin urgently clearing submerged rock formations that are hindering Mississippi River barges as concerns linger that the drought-plagued waterway soon may be closed to shipping. The corps has hired Newt Marine Service of Dubuque, Iowa, and Kokosing Construction Co. of Fredericktown, Ohio, to rid a six-mile stretch of the river of rock pinnacles south of St. Louis near Thebes, Ill. — an effort some U.S. lawmakers suggested in recent days could begin as early as next week. But the corps again held off on confirming any time frame, saying Friday it was sorting out with the contractors how swiftly they can get to the work site, prep it and begin blasting away the granite. Underscoring the project’s pressing nature, the corps — at the behest of federal lawmakers from Mississippi River states — has moved up the work from what had been a projected February start. “We expect work to begin very soon, but we don’t have a definite date,” said Mike Petersen, a corps spokesman in St. Louis. “It’s hard to work down until we have (the contractors’) work plan.” Months of drought have left water levels up to 20 feet below normal along a 180-mile stretch of the river from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill. The problem worsened last month when the corps cut the outflow from an upper Missouri River dam by two-thirds, meaning far less water from the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi. Barges on the Mississippi already are carrying lighter and more frequent loads, and some operators say they’ll halt shipping if they face more restrictions from reduced water levels. National Weather Service hydrologists forecast that the river, barring significant rainfall, at St. Louis could fall by the end of this month to about 9 feet deep — the point at which the Coast Guard has said further restrictions on barge traffic are likely. The river depth in St. Louis as of Friday was about 11 feet. Barge industry trade groups say a prolonged stoppage of shipping on the Mississippi could have an economic impact reaching into the billions of dollars, with the movement of agricultural products, coal, petroleum and other goods reliant on river for transit. Bob Anderson, a corps spokesman in Vicksburg, Miss., said the blasting involves removing 890 cubic yards of very dense granite — roughly enough to fill 50 dump trucks — that typically would be beneath sand on the river bottom but has been exposed by the corps’ dredging efforts to keep the channel open. “We’ve dredged so far and so deep,” taking out 6 million cubic yards of sand and sediment between St. Louis and Cairo, that the rock formations now come into play, Anderson said. The blasting and rock removal, tentatively expected to cost about $8 million, could bottleneck barge traffic in and near the work zone. That stretch of river would be closed for as many as 16 hours a day to ensure the safety of the shippers, Anderson said.