Hidden Fury: the New Madrid Earthquake Zone

Although public interest has recently been focused on the terrible earthquake which struck Los Angeles in January, filmmaker Doug Prose's Hidden Fury: The New Madrid Earthquake Zone reminds us that there are other, potentially more problematic, earthquake areas in the U.S. Like the New Madrid Earthquake Zone along the Mississippi River near Memphis, TN, named after a small town in Missouri that was destroyed by the mega-quakes of 1811 and 1812 (whose shock waves were felt as far as 1200 miles away in Montreal). Prose combines excellent graphics, on-location footage, and interviews with geologists to examine the possibility of a quake in the near future and what the effects might be. Some experts predict that a 6.3 quake or greater is likely before the year 2040, and that damage in places like Memphis (which has a high percentage of buildings made of unreinforced masonry) could be catastrophic. Yet, while the computer animated sequences showing the geologic characteristics of the region are interesting, it's questionable whether this program is going to have much general appeal outside of the Central U.S. Recommended for use in junior and senior high school earth sciences classes. (R. Pitman)