Our ecosystem is incomplete without mentioning the consistent flow of rivers. This soothing flow fascinates each of us providing inner calmness. But have you ever wondered about a river that started flowing in the opposite direction? Let us learn about one such incidence in this blog. Mississippi river suddenly flowing in opposite direction.
The Mississippi river.
The Mississippi River is known as the second-largest river around the globe and is the fourteenth largest river by discharge size. Also, it is famous for being the chief river with the second-largest drainage system in North America after the Hudson Bay drainage system.
The river has its origin from Lake Itasca located in the northern region of Minnesota. Flowing for approximately 3,770 km towards the southern area, this river flows through the Mississippi delta in the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its numerous tributaries, the Mississippi River has a turning point in the United States, from where it gets shattered into many other parts. The river distributes to over 32 states of the U.S and two provinces of Canada.
It lies between the Appalachian and Rocky mountains with a total drainage basin of 2,980,000 km2. The main partition of this river lies fully in the U.S. of its overall basin, only one percent of its drainage system is sited in Canada. Touching the border of many states, this river flows through Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Kentucky, and the Mississippi.
The incident of its reverse flow.
Years back on 7 February 1812, a continuous series of earthquakes arose in the Mississippi river causing a sort of fluvial tidal wave. This series of earthquakes was so violent that it led to drastic damage to different regions on the bank of the Mississippi River near Missouri. Moreover, due to this deadliest earthquake, this river started flowing in an opposite direction for some time. The chain of quivers occurred between December 1811 to March 1812 and is considered to be one of the most influential earthquakes in the antiquity of the United States. Some other important features of the earthquake included:
- An infrequent seismic movement offshore of the Mississippi river started about 2 a.m on 16 December 181. This movement was due to the occurrence of a sturdy storm at the nearest coast of New Madrid. This New Madrid (present-day Missouri) positioned nearest to this river had more than 1000 inhabitatnts during this tremor. This population included mostly hunters and farmers.
- Further, a more potent storm began to erupt at about 7:15 a.m with a magnitude of 8.6. This led to create a havoc situation among residents. Many of the people living nearby felt nausea-like conditions due to widespread undulating movements of the earth. However, the death rate was low due to the absence of any multi-storeyed building in this area.
- Eventually many trees fallen down and cut into two. Also, Sulphur erupted out of the underground areas and spread to several thousand acres of woodlands. Additionally, another earthquake hit the same place on 23 January 1812 with a level of 8.4 triggering a huge loss to livelihood.
- The largest of all such earthquakes occurred on 7 February that made a record of occurring with a scale of 8.8. It was considered to be the stoutest quails in human history. This caused the Mississippi River to flow in the opposite direction for more than a day leaving everybody in surprise. Due to this enormous shaking, the church bells started ringing by themselves even if being located miles away. This heavy tremor killed many residents and created instant waterfalls drowning more than 30 boats in no time. Many new depressions were formed in the Mississippi river that disturbed its fall to a larger extent. Mississippi river suddenly flowing in opposite direction
Such an interesting one to read!