5.4 earthquake this morning related to New Madras fault?

Question

I'm not sure if it made it to national news but there was a 5.4 earthquake that woke the midwest this morning. So this morning I'm hazily remembring something my 7th grade geography teacher told me about the New Madras fault that runs through the midwest, and if it majorly shifted again (appparantly it over due) that we were all going to die...does anyone know if this quake was created by the New Madras fault? I know the epicenter was in West Salem, Ill, about 60 mi from Evansville, Ill. Thanks!

Answer 1

It was along the "Wabash Fault line". It woke us up here in Indiana about 5:35am.  It was loud and shook the entire house. Our blocks on our front porch shifted about 1 inch.

Answer 2

Yes, this quake hit National news. It was plastered all over the TV news here in Calif. as well as the Internet. This quake location borders the much more seismically active New Madrid seismic zone known as the Ozark Dome Region. I believe the USGS officially is calling it a 5.2 which for Calif. standards is your basic moderate quake. The quake was fairly shallow around 7 miles deep which will give a good jolt anywhere near the epicenter. Ironically, at 5:12AM Calif. time/3:12AM Illinois time this morning people in San Francisco were commemorating the 102 year old San Francisco quake which destroyed most of the city. The USGS just announced last week that there is a 97.7% probability of a quake 6.7 or larger within the next 30 years right in my area of Calif. That sounds freaky!

Answer 3

No.  The quake is in the New Madrid zone, but the actual New Madrid fault is south and west of where the epicenter of this quake was.

Answer 4

The fault is referred to as New Madras and New Madrid, not sure which is more correct than the other. We grew up knowing it as the New Madras. They are saying this was the same magnitude as the 1st one I experienced, in 1968, but it seemed to shake a lot longer than any of the ones I have experienced.  

To the gentleman in CA, it would be 7:12 in our area, we are 40 miles from the epicenter. Illinois/Southern Indiana is 2 hours ahead of CA time, not 2 hours behind.

Answer 5

Go to USGS Earthquake Hazards, click on blue square  in Illinois on USA map, click on this morning's big quake, then click on "maps" for the individual quake, look at the one that shows potential risk of quakes in the area.  Today's quake is in the extended area of risk for the New Madras fault zone (1811-1812, 3 quakes around 8).  Even our reporters in California forgot those biggies in their reporting the IL quake this morning.  Those quakes were big enough to ring the church bells in Boston

Answer 6

Instead of arguing, or telling how to get to a page about it, why dont you copy the link to the source list.  Like I just did below.

Answer 7

It is the new madrid fault.Go to Showme.net then click on the new madrid fault line earthquakes:into and it will show you the most recent one,west salem,il. I live in IL.and was woke up early this morning from my house and myself shaking....it was a very scarey and weird feeling,I have never felt anything like this before.

Answer 8

No, I live in KY and the name of the fault their talking about is Numandrick. The rest of your information seems correct.