Do Dead Birds and Fish Warn of an Impending New Madrid Earthquake?

Since reports began coming in regarding dead birds falling from the sky and fish kills, speculation has been high regarding impending earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The New Madrid Seismic Zone is actually a series of faults that stretch from a southern point near Marked Tree, Ark. northward toward Cairo, Illinois. The seismic zone covers parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and southern Illinois.

The northern edge of the New Madrid seismic zone comes close another fault system, the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone that extends toward Indiana. The New Madrid zone is responsible for the strongest earthquakes to shake the United States in 1811 and 1812.

Recent reports have surfaced about dead birds and fish kills in the area in and around the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Are these all coincidental or is New Madrid waking up from its 200-year nap?

Dead birds were reported falling from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas around January 1 and a massive fish kill was reported in the Arkansas River around 100 miles away a couple of days earlier on December 30. According to the United States Geological Survey website, there was a cluster of small earthquakes (magnitude range 1.7 up to 2.3) centered around Guy, Arkansas between December 30 and January 5. Guy is located about 40 miles northwest of Beebe, and is between Beebe and the area where the fish kill occurred but there has been no connection made between the incidents.

On January 3, WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky reported a Gilbertsville woman finding dead birds in her yard. The station reported about 3,000 dead birds in the area, which is located about 300 miles north of Beebe, AR.

In addition, my own area in southern Illinois has seen the dead bird phenomenon. Family members (including my parents, an aunt and an uncle) living near Marion, Illinois stated that there were dead blackbirds in their yards within recent days and one aunt reported finding dead birds as early as the first couple of weeks in December.

Other reports have sprung up about dead birds near St. Louis, MO and Louisiana.

Is there a connection with the New Madrid Seismic Zone? Speculation has run rampant on the Internet that the New Madrid fault is leaking gases from an impending quake and those gases affected the birds. Birds are highly susceptible to gases and in fact, canaries were long used as early methane detectors in coal mines. Other theories have said that magnetic fields from the fault are responsible for the animal deaths.

According to endoftheamericandream.com the dead birds and fish may be a pre-cursor warning of an impending earthquake for New Madrid, but the science behind that theory may be questionable.

While large earthquakes can have precursors (earthquake swarms, foreshocks) that can give hints to what may be coming, it is impossible to actually predict an earthquake. According to the United States Geological Survey, scientists are not able to predict earthquakes but instead present calculated probabilities.

According to the USGS Factsheet, "Earthquake Hazard in the New Madrid Seismic Zone Remains a Concern," the probability or chance of experiencing a magnitude 6 earthquake within the next 50 years in the New Madrid zone is at 25 to 40 percent. Conversely, that means the risk of NOT experiencing a magnitude 6 earthquake in the next 50 years is 60 to 75 percent.

Ultimately, preparation is the key to planning ahead and being ready for an earthquake. The Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI) offers the following tips for earthquake preparedness HERE.

Additional Sources:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/mass-bird-fish-die-offs-go-global-spark-end-times-panic.html
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php