On the Banks of the Mississippi

A couple of weeks ago Scott Aussbrooks of the Arkansas Geological Survey and myself took advantage of the unprecedented low water level of the Mississippi River to observe portions of the river bank that are seldom visible.  We traveled to New Madrid to look at the riverbanks at New Madrid and see if the river had uncovered any obvious evidence of the New Madrid earthquakes from 200 years ago.  Last year the river had approached record high levels and  the possibility existed that during the flood it would uncover items of interest on the riverbank in the area.

Scott Aussbrooks at St John's Bayou

We spent the day at the riverbank roaming from end to end looking for to see what the rivebanks could tell us about events of 200 years ago.  One problem we did not forsee was that the undergrowth had taken advantage of the low water and grown in sections of the bank we wanted to observe. (see the above picture) The compensation was the low water did reveal riverbank that is normally submerged.  But still it was a rare chance to see terrain that is rarely not under water and productive for all concerned in gaining more knowledge of the catyclismic events of 200 years ago.