Earthquake in Illinois..?

I didn't see anything on the major 1.0+ EQ feeds from the USGS.

BUT I did check the seismograph for the ANSS station in S. Wisconsin and it did show a little nudge about 20 minutes ago so you may have felt something.

ANSS feed for S. Wisconsin
[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

Thanks, Razgriz. I submitted the form to USGS, and it said that the shaking would've reached III on the Mercalli scale. Good thing I know I'm not going crazy. Can you give me a link to a seismograph in Illinois?

Sure thing. It is Central Illinois, which is why I didn't go to it first.

[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

I just took a look at it and don't freak. I'm guessing there was some interference or it got a good echo from the 6.3 and 6.1 quakes that happened earlier today. The signature for your little one is right there at the bottom, a little better defined than the first one I posted.

I would imagine from your description and the lack of pickup from the USGS that you were right on or very very close to where it happened. Something you should do is keep aware of any other jolts, and review earthquake safety with the family just in case anything bigger barges in.

Seismographs down to Mississippi are showing the shaking. If that's not interference, then this must've been a huge quake.

Possibly, but the interior of the US is made of dense rock that allows seismic waves to travel easily. Distorts things a little. I check the Kansas one for me and it shows up just fine on it.

I imagine most of the plots for the Midwest and Great Plains down to the Gulf will show it.

Question is: Is this it, or was this that herald of something bigger? Sadly only time will tell on that one.

Can you update this thread if you find anything new about this?

Sure thing. It hasn't appeared on the USGS feed which is odd, but it is a government service so...who knows?

I did find the Seismic "history" on the USGS. Its a brief overview of the major quakes while the state has been settled. I saw mention of a 5.3 being felt in 23 states which backs up the idea of widespread of the seismic waves via compact continental plate.

Illinois Seismic Activity:
[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

One last tidbit that might interest you is a map (geographer not geologist by training so I couldn't help it) showing the quakes in the state between 1990 and 2006. Couple of ones in N. Illinois, but sadly it doesn't give any more information other than that they were shallow.

Illinois EQ Map 1990-2006:
[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

All of this is found on an index page along with a lot more. USGS has the best goodies when you know what to look for >.<

Illinois USGS page:
[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]


Just as I was about to post I remembered I said something about earthquake safety, so I thought I'd post a link to the appropriate page on the Ready.Gov site. I know its gooberment, but with EQ's its pretty hard to not be straight forward.

EQ Preparedness via Ready.gov:
[link to www.ready.gov]

Maybe something will come out of this by tomorrow. Is there a way to watch this thread for replies via email?

Is there anything new?

Not that I can see. I think that this is all that will happen for now. Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I had to step away from the computer for a bit to take care of some rl business.

The heliplots are silent now and no report comes up at the time for when you reported that could have caused your tremor. The closest is a 4.8, but it is in the wrong part of Mexico to travel that far. I'll keep this thread up and remind myself to take a look at it again in the morning. Hopefully nothing happens between now and then, but maybe it's just taking its sweet time getting reported and entered in manually.