I think most of us were a bit surprised to learn that Sunday morning there was an earthquake just off the Louisiana coast. Most of us didn't feel a thing and there was no need for a tsunami warning. But that did get me to thinking, how common are earthquakes in and around the Bayou State?

Well, they're a lot more common than you might imagine.

Over the past five years, there have been more than a few tremblers in and around Louisiana. That's really not too surprising since two fault lines lie within the borders of our state. Ironically the faults are part of the Baton Rouge Fault System. Feel free to drop in a humorous comment about our state's government here.

Most geologists say an earthquake of 5.0 or less on the Richter Scale about every five years or so would not be uncommon considering the geology of the state. So far Louisiana has been lucky and there have been no major earthquakes reported in the state since they started tracking things like that.

However, an earthquake in the state may not be as big of a concern as an earthquake north of the state in Southern Missouri or Northern Arkansas along the New Madrid Fault. Geologists believe a major earthquake along that faultline could and will eventually happen. Should that occur the push of water down the Mississippi River could create catastrophic flooding all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

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