<P> This relative weakness is important, because it would allow the relatively small east - west compressive forces associated with the continuing continental drift of the North American plate to reactivate old faults around New Madrid, making the area unusually prone to earthquakes in spite of it being far from the nearest tectonic plate boundary . </P> <P> Since other ancient rifts are known to occur in North America but not all are associated with modern earthquakes, other processes could be at work to locally increase mechanical stress on the New Madrid faults . It has also been suggested that some form of heating in the lithosphere below the area may be making deep rocks more plastic, which would concentrate compressive stress in the shallower subsurface area where the faulting occurs . </P> <P> In a report filed in November 2008, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency warned that a serious earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone could result in "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States," further predicting "widespread and catastrophic" damage across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and particularly Tennessee, where a 7.7 magnitude quake or greater would cause damage to tens of thousands of structures affecting water distribution, transportation systems, and other vital infrastructure . The earthquake is expected to also result in many thousands of fatalities, with more than 4,000 of the fatalities expected in Memphis alone . </P> <P> The potential for the recurrence of large earthquakes and their impact today on densely populated cities in and around the seismic zone has generated much research devoted to understanding in the New Madrid Seismic Zone . By studying evidence of past quakes and closely monitoring ground motion and current earthquake activity, scientists attempt to understand their causes and recurrence intervals . </P>

Potential dangers due to the new madrid fault
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