Recently, an earthquake hit Illinois west to Chicago. Many of the people who experienced the earthquake, thought it was simply the strong thunderstorm that was happening since the night before.
Illinois History With Quakes
This natural disaster happened roughly around three in the morning in Somonauk, Illinois. A resident reported that it started as a low rumble then the house shook. While having this natural disaster in the rocky area of Illinois is rare, it is still very possible because Illinois is right in the middle of two “hot spots” for quakes to happen.
One of the hot spots is in New Madrid which is located in Mississippi Valley from Cairo, IL through South Missouri, Kentucky, and Arkansas. According to the state of Illinois, this area has had some of the most extreme earthquakes in the U.S. reaching a magnitude of 7.0. These strong quakes happened in the early eighteen hundreds leaving aftershocks for many years after that.
An Unseen Natural Disaster
On average, this state gets about 5 earthquakes per year. However, people typically cannot feel them. Earlier this year around march, the state of Illinois detected a 2.8 magnitude quake somewhere near Germantown, IL. This is a pretty small one and on average Illinois does not get a magnitude of over 3.0. However, there have been few instances where it reached higher numbers.
On January 2 of 1912, 4.5 magnitude quake was detected near Kendall County. This is the third strongest none recorded to date. The second strongest quake happened May 26, 1909 with a magnitude of 5.1. This is pretty strong for Illinois but yet not strongest. The strongest one that has ever been recorded in Illinois is a 5.3 magnitude quake that happened in Norris City, southern part of Illinois. There are many chances for more earth quakes to come later on, but the chances of them being strong are very low.
Written by Erika Cano
Sources:
NBC Chicago: 3.4 magnitude earthquake reported in DeKalb County: USGS
NBC Chicago: Is Illinois on a fault line? What to know about the 3.4 magnitude quake in Somonauk
WTTW: 3.4 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Illinois, 60 Miles West of Chicago
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Erika Cano – AI Generated Image