A whole lotta shakin' going on

Not only do we have snow, rain, high humidity, severe thunderstorms, hail, high-winds, & extreme temperatures, but we now also have earthquakes. A 5.2 magnitude quake occurred at 4:37 am CDT in southeastern Illinois (five miles from the town of Bellmont) but it was powerful enough & close enough to us to shake our bed so that Cheryl woke up. Later on that morning, I felt one of the more significant aftershocks (4.5 magnitude) at work. There was minimal damage in St Louis, with just some concrete falling from the 72-year-old South Kingshighway viaduct over the Union Pacific railway line.

The quake was the result of two tectonic plates along the New Madrid fault moving apart. The New Madrid Seismic Zone, also known as the Reelfoot Rift, or the New Madrid Fault Line, is one of the most seismically active areas in the US (being the source of four of the largest recorded US earthquakes in history, with magnitudes estimated to be greater than 7.0 on the Richter Scale) & extends southwest from New Madrid, Missouri. However, this time instead of being centered along the main fault line (which follows the Mississippi River), it originated from a spur fault referred to as the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone.

There were a number of further aftershocks around the region, however, on May 5 there was a completely unrelated magnitude 2.7 quake centered on.........Fenton! This occurred at about 6:25am & I felt the house 'rattle' as I was getting ready for work. Initially I just though that it was a refuse truck driving by but later reports from the USGS confirmed that it had in fact been a minor quake!