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CBS Chicago
Earthquake reported west of Chicago metro area, near Somonauk, Illinois
By Elyssa Kaufman,
1 day ago
3.4 magnitude earthquake hits DeKalb County 00:17
CHICAGO (CBS) — An earthquake was reported in DeKalb County early Monday morning. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the 3.4 magnitude earthquake in Somonauk, Illinois, a village near Sandwich, Illinois.
The earthquake was reported around 2:50 a.m. It was believed to have originated from a depth of about 10 kilometers below the surface of the earth.
The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office provided more information to "those who were woken up a short time ago to your house shaking."
Meteorologist Laura Bannon said residents as far east as Aurora — roughly 20 miles to the east of the earthquake epicenter — reported feeling signs of the earthquake.
"Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west," the USGS reports.
Is there a fault line in Illinois?
The most famous fault line that has proximity to Illinois is, of course, the New Madrid fault line , which is mainly centered in the area where Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas meet, but which has long produced temblors that can be felt in the southern region of Illinois.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency says that fault line most famously produced a series of earthquakes from 1811 to 1812 that were "believed to have had magnitudes of approximately 8.0 or greater" and produced shock waves "that were felt throughout the eastern United States as well as Canada."
Another fault zone cited by the U.S. Geological Survey falls along the Wabash Valley, covering regions of Illinois and Indiana. It was that fault zone that produced a 5.4-magnitude earthquake in 2008, the agency reported.
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