A mild earthquake shook northern Illinois this morning.In other global warming news, here in the New York/New Jersey metro area we're expecting up to 18 inches of global warming today with blizzard conditions expected this afternoon.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.3-magnitude quake at 3:59:34 a.m. centered about 5.5 miles east of Sycamore and 3.1 miles underground. The epicenter is about 45 miles west of Chicago.
The quake was felt over a wide area, but there were no reports of any damage 90 minutes later, according to the Kane County and DeKalb County sheriff's departments, which are closest to the epicenter.
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.
A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck near downstate West Salem on April 18, 2008. That quake was the worst to hit Illinois since 1968.
By contrast, the earthquake that leveled Haiti on Jan. 12 registered 7.0 on the Richter Scale, meaning it was about 500 times the magnitude of the one this morning. Many of the numerous aftershocks to hit the island were approximately the same magnitude as the quake that hit near Sycamore today.
Al Gore remains unavailable for comment.
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