USGS Confirms Earthquake Near Rend Lake in Southern Illinois

The pattern of odd earthquakes in the Missouri and Illinois region continued Monday as the USGS has confirmed an earthquake shook the area in Illinois south of Mt. Vernon near Rend Lake.

I wouldn't call this rare, but it's not often that I've seen an earthquake in this part of Illinois. Here's what the USGS has just confirmed.

If you zoom into the map shared by the USGS, you'll see the epicenter for Monday's quake was barely south of Rend Lake in southern Illinois.

While a 2.4 magnitude earthquake is no big deal as far as damage is concerned, the location is very interesting. The Mt. Vernon area of Illinois is situated between the New Madrid Fault to the southwest and the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone to the northeast. I haven't seen any confirmation from the USGS as to which seismic area is responsible for this quake near Rend Lake. If I had to guess, I'd pin this minor shaker on the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone and not the New Madrid Fault, but I'm far from an expert.

No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS so far so just file this under "strange happenings under our feet" and hope it's not a precursor to a major quake event.