My 'percolate down' comment was meant to head off speculation that the water would soak into the ground and lubricate the fault. I have seen commentary on other forums that gives me the distinct impression that's what people think will happen.

Although the river level is at 50 feet deep, that's only the river bed itself, not the flooded land, which is going to be less than that and spread out. Yes, there would be more weight in the river, but it's nothing compared to a reservoir since we have to look at the change in weight, not the absolute weight. The river already had a lot of water and weight in it.

Further, the ground at and near the river itself is already going to be saturated, so just because the river is deeper I can't see how more water will get into the ground.

Besides, how many gazillion times has the Mississippi flooded and how many earthquakes were there?

The point being, the New Madrid faults are kilometers deep. It's unlikely that what is happening on the surface is going to have much if any effect down there.

Again, I'm mostly commenting based on things I've read elsewhere, not here. Maybe that's not appropriate, but I'm feeling a little disgusted with the human race again. Within one hour of bin Laden's death I could not believe the conspiratorial BS floating around so quickly. I've often wondered if I should go to school for psychology. I could probably write a dozen papers on the psychology and psychoses of forum participants. Maybe even make it my PhD thesis.

Brian