earthquake chicago

This field farm on Plank Road near Elgin Hampshire was the epicenter of an earthquake overnight in Illinois, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (Stacey Wescott / Tribune)

A mild earthquake shook northern Illinois this morning.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake of magnitude 3.8 at 3:59:33 am centered in a farm on Plank Road in Hampshire near Elgin and 3.1 miles underground. Initially, he had reported the magnitude as 4.3 with an epicenter about 5.5 miles east of Sycamore.

The earthquake was felt over a wide area - from Wisconsin to Tennessee - but there were no reports of any damage so far, according to Kane County and Sheriff's departments in DeKalb County, which are closer to the 'epicenter.

"We received hundreds of calls," said County Sheriff Roger Scott DeKalb. "But we have no reports of damage or injuries."

The magnitude and epicenter were revised after the U.S. Geological Survey has studied the "wave forms" in the quake, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist at the Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado
"The information has been better understood," she said.

The nature of the fault activity that caused the quake was not clear, Vaughn said. Past earthquakes that have occurred in southern Illinois were in the Wabash Valley and New Madrid seismic zone.

The fault systems in northern Illinois are not as well understood as other regions where earthquakes are more frequent and more investigation is needed to determine the cause of the earthquake this morning, "said Vaughan.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 has struck near West Salem Downstate April 18, 2008. That quake was the worst to hit Illinois since 1968.

In contrast, the earthquake that leveled Haiti January 12, registered 7.0 on the Richter scale, meaning it was about 1600 times the scale of that this morning. Many of the numerous aftershocks to hit the island was about the same magnitude as the earthquake that struck near Hampshire today.

Reports of tremors coming from Villa Park, Western Springs, Minooka, Batavia, Naperville, Elgin, Oak Lawn, Des Plaines, and even Crown Point, Indiana at Chicago, came from the northwest side and Logan Square. The USGS has received thousands of reports from as far north as Madison, Wis., and as far south as Bourbonnais.

This field farm on Plank Road near Elgin Hampshire was the epicenter of an earthquake overnight in Illinois, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (Stacey Wescott / Tribune)

A mild earthquake shook northern Illinois this morning.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake of magnitude 3.8 at 3:59:33 am centered in a farm on Plank Road in Hampshire near Elgin and 3.1 miles underground. Initially, he had reported the magnitude as 4.3 with an epicenter about 5.5 miles east of Sycamore.

The earthquake was felt over a wide area - from Wisconsin to Tennessee - but there were no reports of any damage so far, according to Kane County and Sheriff's departments in DeKalb County, which are closer to the 'epicenter.

"We received hundreds of calls," said County Sheriff Roger Scott DeKalb. "But we have no reports of damage or injuries."

The magnitude and epicenter were revised after the U.S. Geological Survey has studied the "wave forms" in the quake, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist at the Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado
"The information has been better understood," she said.

The nature of the fault activity that caused the quake was not clear, Vaughn said. Past earthquakes that have occurred in southern Illinois were in the Wabash Valley and New Madrid seismic zone.

The fault systems in northern Illinois are not as well understood as other regions where earthquakes are more frequent and more investigation is needed to determine the cause of the earthquake this morning, "said Vaughan.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 has struck near West Salem Downstate April 18, 2008. That quake was the worst to hit Illinois since 1968.

In contrast, the earthquake that leveled Haiti January 12, registered 7.0 on the Richter scale, meaning it was about 1600 times the scale of that this morning. Many of the numerous aftershocks to hit the island was about the same magnitude as the earthquake that struck near Hampshire today.

Reports of tremors coming from Villa Park, Western Springs, Minooka, Batavia, Naperville, Elgin, Oak Lawn, Des Plaines, and even Crown Point, Indiana at Chicago, came from the northwest side and Logan Square. The USGS has received thousands of reports from as far north as Madison, Wis., and as far south as Bourbonnais.

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