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The broad alluvial plains encompassing the Missouri Bootheel have been shattered by catastrophic earthquakes—most recently the 1811-1812 New Madrid Earthquakes. Powerful seismic waves ejected sands from deep beneath the surface, opening fissures and erupting tall geysers of sand, charcoal, and sulfurous steam.

The subsurface remnants from these eruptions are now affecting the dynamics of ground and surface waters throughout the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). Sand-filled subterranean dikes act as rapid water-channeling networks extending from just beneath the surface into the subsurface sands, allowing for very high-volume water flow rates between the ground surface and water table. On these landforms, production fields may drain much more rapidly than expected when first adopting winter flooding or furrow irrigation practices.

The project’s objective is to develop a mapping protocol to highlight and pinpoint the subsurface features allowing for rapid water drainage into the subsurface. Focusing on the New Madrid Seismic Zone of the upper Mississippi Delta, survey areas are across agricultural production fields in the 20- 100 ha range.

We are now precisely mapping the locales of these seismic features across large acreages using mobile ground-penetrating radar combined with RTK-GPS and GIS. When located, the features are either remediated or isolated from artificial winter flooding practices.