Dozens of people used the “Did you feel it?” web reporting tool to let USGS know they felt the latest earthquake to strike in the eastern United States. According to USGS, a magnitude 2.2 earthquake struck near the town of Cynthiana, Indiana which is northwest of Evansville and not far from the state lines with Illinois and Tennessee. The earthquake struck last night at 10:06 pm from a depth of 18.8 km. This is the 8th earthquake to strike the area in the last 21 days, with most of the earthquakes occurring closer to the heart of the New Madrid Seismic Zone in Missouri.
USGS says that earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0 , more and more people can feel them. While damage is possible with magnitude 3.0 events or greater, significant damage and casualties usually don’t occur until the magnitude of a seismic event rises to a 5.5 or greater rated event.
This earthquake joins a string of other earthquakes in recent days across the eastern United States that serve as a reminder that earthquakes aren’t exclusive to the U.S. West Coast. Earthquakes struck Massachussetts, Maine, Arkansas, Tennessee, and New Jersey in recent days. USGS expects more earthquakes in the eastern U.S. in the days ahead.
Indiana lies near two major fault lines: the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone, which lies along the southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois borders, and the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which runs through western Kentucky and southeastern Illinois. The New Madrid Seismic Zone, also referred to by some as the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes within the tectonic plate that the continental United States resides on…