Small earthquake wakes up northern Illinois residents

Area residents were shaken out of their sleep by a small earthquake that hit northern Illinois. No major damage was caused by what the U.S. Geological Survey reports was a 3.8-magnitude earthquake about 1 mile south-southeast of Pingree Grove, about 82 miles northeast of Sterling, at 3:59 a.m. today.

According to the USGS, the quake was about 3.1 miles underground.

The USGS Web site shows responses from throughout the Sauk Valley by residents who reported feeling the earthquake.

The USGS originally said the quake was 4.3 in magnitude beforedowngrading it just before 8 a.m. Wednesday. Paul Stoddard, anassociate professor in department of Geology and EnvironmentalGeosciences at Northern Illinois University, said the numbers are fluid during the first couple of hours after an earthquake.

Manuel Penaflor, who lives on Avenue F in Sterling, said he was rocked out of a dead sleep Wednesday morning.

His bed was shaking, he said, as was a small chandelier hanging in his bedroom.

He immediately jumped out of bed, turned on the light, and wondered if he was having a nightmare.

“It felt really bad,” Penaflor said. “I thought the house was haunted or something. We’re used to hearing noises but I’ve never felt a shake like that before.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Department received several calls from Amboy-area residents who felt the quake, Sheriff John Varga said. No damage was reported, he added.

Whiteside County Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi said the department did not receive any calls from residents regarding the earthquake.

Kane County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Pat Gengler says dispatchers were flooded with calls from startled residents, though no injuries or damage were reported.

Gengler says several residential and business alarms were triggered, but deputies weren’t been called for assistance. He says earthquakes in the area are rare.

Residents reported being shaken out of bed and finding books and tools scattered across the floor after falling from shelves.

A Magnitude 4 earthquake can cause moderate damage, according to the USGS.

The USGS had reports this morning of the quake being felt in nine different states, from Ohio to Nebraska.

There is no known fault line in this area, Stoddard said, but there “is a fault there because there was an earthquake. Anywhere on the planet can see an earthquake. Some places get them a lot more frequently.”

There have been a handful of earthquakes in northern Illinois during the last decade, he said, including one in 2008 that was south of DeKalb County and was registered at a 5.1 magnitude.

Earthquakes, generally speaking, are caused by a shifting of rocks, Stoddard said. In the Midwest, it’s most likely due to what is called glacial rebound.

“We used to have huge glaciers sitting over Great Lakes region and into Canada,” he said. “When they melted, that releases a lot of weight from that part of the world. The surface of the Earth rebounds upward.Imagine taking a bowling bowl off a mattress, only with the earth it happens a lot more slowly. As the surface rises up, small adjustments in the rock happen occasionally. And we felt one this morning.”

— The DeKalb Daily Chronicle contributed to this story.