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Indications of Earthquake Activity in Northeastern North American from Native Americans

Description: 

Historical records from European explorers and then settlers provide indications of earthquakes in northeastern North America over the past 400 or so years. Extending information about the earthquake activity in this region further back in time can be done by looking for indications of prehistoric earthquake activity in languages of native American tribes. This can be done in three ways. The first way is to document which tribes have a word for earthquake in their language. In northeastern North America tribes ranging from the Seneca and Cayuga in western New York to the Natick tribe in eastern Massachusetts to the Mi’kmaq tribe in eastern Maine all have a word for earthquake in their languages, suggesting that earthquakes were common enough in these areas that the local tribes needed a word for this phenomenon as part of their vocabulary. A second way to look for earthquake activity is in place names assigned by the local natives. For example, Moodus in Connecticut means “place of noises” and is an area where swarms of small earthquakes have been heard and felt. In Massachusetts a hill called Nashoba means “hill that shakes” in the local language of the Native Americans. Over the past several decades, regional seismic network monitoring has indicated that small earthquakes regularly take place near Nashoba. Finally, legends of Native Americans can preserve information on past earthquakes. In 1638 Roger Williams learned from local natives that four strong earthquakes had been felt in Rhode Island over the previous 80 or so years. Interdisciplinary research into words and legends related to earthquakes in eastern North America could extend information about the earthquake activity into pre-European times.

Session: Earthquakes, Lithospheric Structure, and Dynamics in Stable Continental Region - I

Type: Oral

Date: 4/17/2025

Presentation Time: 09:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: John

Student Presenter: No

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