Earthquake shakes Illinois, Indiana border
No injuries or damage reported after 3.1 temblor
A minor earthquake late Friday disturbed residents along the border of Illinois and Indiana, 37 miles northwest of Evansville, Ind., the U.S. Geological Survey reported Saturday on the Earthquake Notification Service.
The 3.1 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 11:15 p.m. Friday about eight miles west of Mount Carmel, Ill., and 27 miles southwest of Vincennes, Ind., according to the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.
The quake was felt by residents of communities in both states in the border region north of Interstate 64, including Mount Carmel, Bone Gap, West Salem and Albion, Ill.; as well as Ow- ensville and Decker, Ind.
The Mount Carmel Police Department received several calls from residents, but no injuries and no damage were reported, a police dispatcher said.
This is the same region hit by a more powerful 5.4 earthquake in 1968, the largest recorded in the central U.S. since 1895.
The border area is in the Wabash Valley seismic zone, part of a larger seismic region known as the Ozark dome. The dome stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, Tenn.
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake was recorded six miles northwest of Mount Carmel, Ill., in April 2008. The larger quake was felt in 18 states.
Two other magnitude 5 earthquakes hit the area in 1968 and 1987.
“Damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the region each decade or two, and smaller earthquakes are felt about once or twice a year,” the USGS said.
Earthquakes occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep, according to the USGS. The Friday evening quake near Mount Carmel, Ill. was recorded at a depth of more than 7 miles.
The Ozark dome borders the more active New Madrid seismic zone to the west and north.
A 1.5 magnitude earthquake was recorded at Clintonville, Wis., on March 10, 2012.
The quake followed several days of booms and vibrations that rattled windows throughout the Waupaca County community.
Scientists at the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey in Madison said at the time that the low-intensity seismic activity could have been produced by a phenomenon known as postglacial rebounding.
Granite bedrock beneath eastern Waupaca County is slowly adjusting to a great weight being lifted off it when the last glacier melted more than 10,000 years ago.
As the granite stretches, it can crack to relieve pressure, the scientists said.
There is no known geologic fault beneath central Wisconsin.
Seismic waves are vibrations from earthquakes that travel through the Earth and they are recorded on instruments known as seismographs.
Earthquakes with magnitude of 2.0 or less are called microearthquakes. Events with magnitudes of 4.5 or greater can be recorded by instruments all over the world.
Each whole number increase in magnitude represents a 32-fold increase in seismic energy, according to the USGS.