Three small earthquakes centered in southeast Missouri this week

Three small earthquakes this week were centered near Marston, Missouri, near the Mississippi River.

Wednesday night at about 10:40 p.m. a 2.3 quake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey 4 miles southeast of Marston and 12 miles west of Hickman, KY.

Then on Friday morning, another 2.2-magnitude tremor shook the same area. A 1.7 tremor was detected in the same area on Saturday morning.

In fact, there have been nearly three dozen tremors within the past six months in a five-square mile area on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River in New Madrid County. Directly across the river in northwest Tennessee, only a half dozen have been detected.

However, ten miles further south in Lake County around Ridgely, Tennessee, another three dozen minor quakes have occurred in the same time period.

Those are the two most active zones of the New Madrid Fault system, which stretches from northeastern Arkansas to southern Illinois.




No injuries or damage have been reported.