The state of Illinois is at risk from two major seismic zones, the New Madrid Seismic Zone, and the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone. The New Marid Seismic Zone is located in the Central Mississippi Valley and includes portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The Wabash Valley Zone is located between southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana.
The earliest report of an earthquake in Illinois is in the year of 1795 at Kaskaskia. This particular phenomenon only lasted for a minute and a half. Subterranean noises were heard and it was also felt as far as Kentucky. Due to the thin frontier population, an accurate location is not possible and the shock may have originated outside the State. Among the largest earthquakes occurring in Illinois was the May 26, 1909, a vibration which knocked over many chimneys in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago. It was felt over 500 thousand square miles and strongly felt in Iowa and Wisconsin. Buildings flexed in Chicago where there was fear that the walls would collapse.
Less than two months later a second intensity VII earthquake struck on July 18, knocking down chimneys in Petersburg, Illinois, and at Hannibal, Missouri, and Davenport, Iowa. Over twenty windows were broken, bricks loosened and plaster cracked in the Petersburg area. It was felt over only 40,000 square miles.
Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) has mapped out areas and earthquake zones of Illinois. The most dangerous zones are located in the southern part of the state. IEMA has also made available online several prepare guides and checklists for disasters. The state also has a READY Illinois initiative to help with the outreach of disaster planning. Illinois' Ready to...
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... mitigation strategies. Analysis of several landslides within the New Madrid Seismic Zone indicated that the landslides were stable, but failure is possible during an earthquake of the magnitude experienced in 1812.
Works Cited
"IEMA Links." Illinois Disaster Recovery Plan (IDRP). N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. .
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Illinois State Geological Survey, 2005, Time Talks – The Geology of Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks
In 1910 a series of fifty-two earthquakes struck Arizona between September 10th-23rd and it caused much of the Flagstaff residents to flee the area as even strong households cracked and chimneys crumbled. The fifty-two earthquakes were all light-shock earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0-4.2 that came right after another. If only one earthquake occurred in that timespan then it is likely that only objects would be knocked from shelves but no damage would be done to infrastructure, but the earthquakes happened right after another causing significant slight
Bierhorst, John, et al. The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Vol I. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
1906 San Francisco Earthquake Jared E. Gatchalian San Jose State University. 1906 San Francisco Earthquake The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was one of the largest earthquakes in the United States. Even though it only lasted less than a minute, the damage and aftermath of the earthquake were disastrous. These damages were not just from the earthquake, but also from other hazards that occurred because of it. It also had a huge effect on the people living in San Francisco.
Heller, Arnie. "The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake." Science & Technology (2006): 4-12. Web. 8 May 2014.
Before examining the Northridge event, understanding the naturally occurring hazard that is an earthquake will help to better understand exactly what happened and why it was such an important geological event. With four distinct layers, two layers, the crust and upper portion of the mantle, compose the skin that is the surface layer of the Earth. The crust is not a single, continuous piece. It is actually several different pieces, or plates, that come together to form the puzzle that comprises the surface of the Earth. These plates are in constant motion rubbing against one another. These areas, known as fault lines, where the plates rub up against one another have spots where one plate ”gets stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and is how most of the earthquakes around the world occur” (Wald, 2012). The energy stored from the friction of the two plate...
benchmark for the future, and integrated investigation into the effects of earthquakes in the U.S.
Damrosch, David and David L. Pike. The Longman Anthology of World Literature Second Edition. Pearson Education, Inc., 2009.
The Tangshan earthquake was the second deadliest earthquake on record. It began in Tangshan, China at 3:42 on July 28, 1976 and took many lives. The citizens and their families were asleep when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake began to violently shake the ground beneath them. Earthquakes in China average at around 4.7 magnitude so, this one unordinary. The earthquake was caused when two underground plates moved past one another and eventually broke from all of the built up pressure. Citizens were unable to scramble to safety in time because the novice systems failed to detect the earthquake in time. Tangshan officials relied on surveying the land and how the storm altered the surrounding environment. Because of the power of this earthquake, it caused
Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Peter Simon. 3rd. ed. Vol. B. New York and London:
"The Great Quake: 1906-2006 / Rising from the Ashes." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2014.
Lawall, Sarah,et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Volume A (slipcased). Norton, 2001. W.W. Norton and Company Inc. New York, NY.
Domrosch, David. Longman Anthology of World Literature, The, Compact Edition. 1st Edition. Pearson College Div: Longman, 2007. Print.
Literature of the Western World, Volume 2. 4th edition by Brian Wilkie and James Hurt. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997.
Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. Print.