I didn’t think they had earthquakes in Illinois, and they don’t very often. After this one, I decided to do a little research and post it here.
This was a 3.8 magnitude quake, quite small (the one in Haiti a month ago, 7.0, was 1600 times stronger!).
Here is a map showing the earthquakes that have hit Northern Illinois in the 20th Century:
20th Century Earthquakes - Northern Illinois
This works out to about one every six years, with none over 4.0. Here is the exact location of the tremor, which was 10 km below the surface:
Epicenter, Lily Lake Earthquake, Illinois February 2010
And here is a map of where the quake was felt, although there were reports as far away as northeastern Arkansas, southeastern Minnesota and western Ohio:
Shake Map, USGS, Lily Lake Earthquake, Illinois Feb. 2010
This map makes the area look quite mountainous! It’s really basically flat, I’m afraid. I will add to this post in the near future…..
