Earthquake in Illinois

Hey Jess and the rest of you in Northern Illinois

Did you feel the earthquake last night? On CNN one guy from Elgin said it shook him out of his bed.

We didn't feel it, to far South. I've carried earthquake insurance for years though.

Charlotte

Parts of the county 10 miles south of me (in WI) said they felt it. Felt like a big truck rumbling by and didn't think any more of it. Who would have thunk - dead of winter and we have earthquakes? Think I'd take the earthquake over snow personally. I've had enough snowman poop for one season.

Becky, I just read in Country Living Magazine that the geographic center of the Northwestern Hemisphere is in a cornfield in Poniatowski, WI. That is halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

Who knew?

Cheryl

I think the midwest is just jealous of the west coast and decided to have its own earthquake. Seriously, do you know size and depth?

Chris

It was a 3.8

One of the most active eastern quake zones is the New Madrid seismic zone, winding southward from Illinois and Missouri down through west Tennessee and Arkansas. It unleashed a series of magnitude-8.0 quakes in 1811-12.
Seismologists say we can expect one that big every 200 to 300 years. And quakes in the 6.0 range come every 80 years or so. The last one in the area was in 1895, 115 years ago.

The book When the Mississippi Ran Backwards by Jay Feldman is a very interesting book about the 1811-1812 one. It was after I read it that I got the earthquake insurance!

Product Description
On December 15, 1811, two of Thomas Jefferson's nephews murdered a slave in cold blood and put his body parts into a roaring fire. The evidence would have been destroyed but for a rare act of God -- or, as some believed, of the Indian chief Tecumseh.
That same day, the Mississippi River's first steamboat, piloted by Nicholas Roosevelt, powered itself toward New Orleans on its maiden voyage. The sky grew hazy and red, and jolts of electricity flashed in the air. A prophecy by Tecumseh was about to be fulfilled.

He had warned reluctant warrior-tribes that he would stamp his feet and bring down their houses. Sure enough, between December 16, 1811, and late April 1812, a catastrophic series of earthquakes shook the Mississippi River Valley. Of the more than 2,000 tremors that rumbled across the land during this time, three would have measured nearly or greater than 8.0 on the not-yet-devised Richter Scale. Centered in what is now the bootheel region of Missouri, the New Madrid earthquakes were felt as far away as Canada; New York; New Orleans; Washington, D.C.; and the western part of the Missouri River. A million and a half square miles were affected as the earth's surface remained in a state of constant motion for nearly four months. Towns were destroyed, an eighteen-mile-long by five-mile-wide lake was created, and even the Mississippi River temporarily ran backwards.

Charlotte,

Yes, I am aware of the earthquake history of that area. Folks out your way don't feel earthquakes all the time like we do, so they have the mistaken notion they're safe, perhaps because they're not familiar with the seismic history. I leave it alone and don't bring it up and unless the person really wants to get into it.

Chris

I'm always a little surprised at folks around here who make comments like "I could never live in California because of the earthquakes", unaware that they are living on top of a humdinger right here!

Charlotte

YES!!! I live in Elgin, and it shook our house REALLY good. In my half asleep state I was sure that a snow plow had hit our house and was trying to get the plow un-wedged from under us...lol Gotta love the half asleep imagination.

Caraaaazzyyyy!

paradox wrote:I'm always a little surprised at folks around here who make comments like "I could never live in California because of the earthquakes", unaware that they are living on top of a humdinger right here!

Charlotte

Exactly!

Chris

How are you guys doing? no aftershocks, I hope and everyone is safe and sound!

Risa