What year was the big quake on the new madrid fault?

Answer 1

THE GREAT NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE OF 1811-1812 was actually a series of over 2000 shocks in five months, five of which were 8.0 or more in magnitude. Eighteen of these rang church bells on the Eastern seaboard. The very land itself was destroyed in the Missouri Bootheel, making it unfit even for farmers for many years. It was the largest burst of seismic energy east of the Rocky Mountains in the history of the United States and was several times larger than the San Francisco quake of 1906.

Answer 2

There were actually several earthquakes on that fault in the space of a few months. Two were on 12/16/1811, a third was 1/23/1812, and the last - and apparently the largest - was on 2/7/1812.

The fault is still very active and is a major threat given that almost no one in the area even realizes that gigantic earthquakes are possible there.

BTW: I think I first learned about the New Madrid earthquakes in an ancient episode of Scooby Doo, if you can believe it ... those meddling kids found a buried town, vintage 1812!

Answer 3

There were multiple quakes from late 1811 to early 1812.