The shaking science of earthquakes

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – At 10:23 a.m. ET April 4, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the northeast. It’s the third strongest earthquake to hit the region in the last 50 years and a rarity since the northeast isn’t near the edge of a tectonic plate.

While, the 4.8 magnitude isn’t strong enough to do much damage, it could be felt.

Earthquakes are measured using the Richter Scale where every magnitude is 10 times as strong as the the size before it.

Tectonic plates are large slabs of rock that make up the earth’s surface. The plates move constantly, but only about a half inch per year. Most earthquakes happen when plates meet or move away from each other.

There are three different types of plate movements that can cause earthquakes:

Convergent: When two plates collide, they can form mountains or volcanoes. This kind of interaction can be seen on the west coast where volcanoes and mountain ranges are.

Divergent: Plates can move away from each other creating cracks in the earth’s surface. If this movement is in the ocean, magma can be erupted from the inner earth and create new earth crust.

Transform: Otherwise known as Strike-Slip faults, this is when two plates move past each other like rubbing your hands together. The San Andres fault line in California is an example of a transform boundary.

When it comes to the intensity of earthquakes, the convergent collision produces the strongest, while divergent creates the weakest.

Stress within a plate can also produce an earthquake and what happened in the northeast Friday morning.

Like in the northeast, earthquakes in northern Illinois are rare. For a list of the latest earthquakes in North America, visit the U.S. Geological Survey website.


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