Wabash Valley
The Wabash Valley is a region with parts in both Illinois and Indiana. It is named for the Wabash River and spans the middle to the middle-lower portion of the river and is centered at Terre Haute, Indiana. The term Wabash Valley is frequently used in local media in Clinton, Lafayette, Mount Carmel, Princeton, Terre Haute, and Vincennes all of which are either on or near the Lower Wabash River.
Seismic activity
The Wabash Valley Fault System in southeastern Illinois, southwestern Indiana, and adjacent corner of Kentucky extends about 60 miles north-northeastward from just north of the Shawneetown and Rough Creek Fault Zones. A Magnitude 5.2 quake took place in the Wabash zone[1] on April 18, 2008 at 09:37 UTC (04:37 CST), about 41 miles NNW of Evansville, Indiana, near the community of Bellmont, Illinois.[2] It was felt all across southern Illinois, southern Indiana, western and central Kentucky and eastern Missouri, waking people up in Chicago and St. Louis, 123 miles away.[3][4] This was followed by several aftershocks and a second, magnitude 4.6 quake at 15:14 UTC (10:14 CST).[5] There were no injuries or serious damage reported late Friday morning, April 18, 2008.[6] In Mt. Carmel, Illinois, 15 southeast of the epicenter, a woman was reported trapped in her home by a collapsed porch but was quickly freed and wasn't hurt, said Mickie Smith, a police dispatcher there.[6]
The earthquake occurred coincidentally on the 102nd anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The largest quake to have taken place in this Zone was a 5.4 earthquake in 1968.
Counties
Counties in the Wabash Valley include Posey, Gibson, Vigo, Clay, Sullivan, Vermillion, Parke, Greene, Putnam, Owen, Knox, Daviess, Martin, Fountain, and Tippecanoe counties in Indiana. The Illinois portion consists of Clark, Edgar, Crawford, Jasper, Cumberland, Coles, Douglas, Gallatin, Edwards, Wabash, and White Counties. It also may or may not include, depending on the source, Monroe, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, and Warren counties in Indiana, and Lawrence, Richland, Vermillion, Champaign, Clay, and Effingham counties in Illinois due to the Little Wabash River.
References
- ↑ USGS Fact Sheet 131-02: Earthquake Hazard in the Heart of the Homeland
- ↑ Magnitude 5.2 - ILLINOIS USGS
- ↑ Television reports, KSDK, "Early Today", April 18, 2008
- ↑ Magnitude 5.2 - ILLINOIS
- ↑ http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2008qzbw.html
- 1 2 "Chicago feels aftershock to Midwest quake", Chicago Tribune, April 18, 2008
