Kentucky Bend, Mississippi River
Kentucky bend is a piece of land on the inside of an oxbow loop meander of the Mississippi River that is considered part of Kentucky but is completely surrounded by the states of Tennessee and Missouri. In 1812, this area of the river was highly disrupted and was reported to even flow backwards because of the 1811-1812 New Madrid series of earthquakes, some of the largest ever felt in the United States. The Kentucky bend is cut by the active Reelfoot Fault. Reelfoot Lake formed when the Mississippi River's course was changed by the large 1811-1812 earthquakes.