[Cindy]

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/quake-like-tremors-reported-in-western-suburbs.html

“4.3-magnitude earthquake hits near Sycamore”
February 10, 2010 5:24 AM | No Comments | UPDATED STORY
A mild earthquake shook northern Illinois this morning.

SNIPPET: “The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.3-magnitude quake at 3:59:43 a.m. centered about 5.5 miles east of Sycamore and 3.1 miles underground. The epicenter is about 45 miles west of Chicago.”

SNIPPET: “The nature of the fault activity that caused the quake was unclear, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the geological survey in Golden, Colo. Past quakes that have affected southern Illinois have been in the Wabash Valley or New Madrid seismic zones.

The fault systems in northern Illinois are not as well understood as those in other regions where earthquakes are more common, and more investigation will be needed to determine the cause of this morning’s temblor, Vaughan said.”

[stlnative]

Freaky Stuff - I was trying to figure out what fault it was on. I know the Wabash Valley & New Madrid Zones as I am in between the both of them. The Wabash Valley was the one that kicked the 5.4 out in 2008.

[stlnative]

lol... the epicenter is close to being halfway between the future gitmo and chicago.

[Godzilla]

Cratonic quakes can be fun :)

[HiTech RedNeck]

The fault systems in northern Illinois are not as well understood as those in other regions where earthquakes are more common, and more investigation will be needed to determine the cause of this morning’s temblor, Vaughan said.”

Atlas couldn't get along with Gaia any more and he shrugged?

[bd476]

Thanks for the Ping, Cindy. .

Earthquake Ping List.
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Magnitude 3.8 - ILLINOIS

2010 February 10 09:59:33 UTC

Earthquake Details Magnitude 3.8
Date-Time * Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 09:59:33 UTC
* Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 03:59:33 AM at epicenter
Location 42.053°N, 88.412°W
Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Region ILLINOIS
Distances

* 2 km (1 miles) SSE (168°) from Pingree Grove, IL
* 6 km (4 miles) SW (215°) from Gilberts, IL
* 9 km (6 miles) WSW (243°) from Sleepy Hollow, IL
* 34 km (21 miles) NNW (344°) from Aurora, IL
* 65 km (40 miles) WNW (292°) from Chicago, IL

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist

Tectonic Summary

EARTHQUAKES IN THE STABLE CONTINENTAL REGION

Most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England, in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and elsewhere.

However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake. The earthquakes that do occur strike anywhere at irregular intervals.

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast.

A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source.

A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

FAULTS

Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. Most of the region's bedrock was formed as several generations of mountains rose and were eroded down again over the last billion or so years.

At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the name of the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case.

All parts of this vast region are far from the nearest plate boundaries, which, for the U.S., are to the east in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, to the south in the Caribbean Sea, and to the west in California and offshore from Washington and Oregon.

The region is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected.

Even most of the known faults are poorly located at earthquake depths. Accordingly, few earthquakes east of the Rockies can be linked to named faults.

It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. In most areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards is the earthquakes themselves.

Magnitude 3.8 - ILLINOIS