• Current News
• Africa
• Alabama
• Alaska
• Antarctic
• Archaeology
• Arctic
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Asia
• Astronomy
• Atlantic
• Australia and Pacific
• California
• Canada
• Caves and Karst
• Central America & Mexico
• Coastal Geology
• Colorado
• Contamination
• Delaware
• Diamonds
• Dinosaurs
• Earthquakes
• Energy
• Engineering Geology
• Environment
• Europe
• Floods
• Florida
• Fossils
• Gemstones
• Geologist Career
• Geology for Kids
• Georgia
• Geothermal
• Glaciers
• Global Warming
• Gold
• GPS and GIS
• Great Websites
• Ground Water
• Hawaii
• Historical Geology
• Hurricanes and Cyclones
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Interesting
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Landslides
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maps
• Mars
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Metals
• Meteorology
• Meteors and Meteorites
• Michigan
• Minerals
• Mining
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Natural Hazards
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Oceanography
• Ohio
• Oil and Gas
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Plate Tectonics
• Satellite Images
• South America
• South Dakota
• Space
• Subsidence
• Teaching Science
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Tornadoes
• Tsunami
• United States
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Volcanoes
• Washington
• Water
• West Virginia
• Wildfire
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Geology News
Illinois Current Events

USGS has a Podcast interview about this earthquake with Harley Benz, Scientist-in-Charge at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. For specific details about the event you can find data at the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program.

Geotimes has a summary report on the recent earthquake in southeastern Illinois.

An earthquake occurred in southeastern Illinois this morning at 4:36 AM central time, Apr 18, 2008. The epicenter was located about 6 miles from West Salem, Illinois, 20 miles southwest of Vincennes, Indiana and 125 miles southwest of Indianapolis, Indiana. Early news postings say that no injuries or deaths have been reported, however, some minor damage has occurred. It was felt by people as far away as Chicago.

Early News Report from Associated Press

NASA Image

A new geothermal system at an elementary school near Peoria, Illinois is saving the district 70% on heating in the winter and 40% on total energy costs the rest of the year.

Very heavy rains have triggered flooding in the central United States, leaving at least 13 dead. Some USGS Gaging Stations in Illinois - where one foot of rain fell - show stage increases of 20 feet or more.

Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past few decades has been associated with increasing soybean yields. How does it relate to the organic matter content of the soil? Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are finding some surprises.

Faculty members at Southern Illinois University received a $1,288,000 grant to help 17 southern Illinois counties evaluate their exposure to natural disasters and take steps to minimize their impact.

A $1.8 billion research project was approved for construction near Mattoon, Illinois. This plant will produce electricity from coal and sequester the carbon dioxide in subsurface rock units.

USGS Image

USGS has completed an assessment of the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the Illinois Basin which includes parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. The assessment is based on the geologic elements of each total petroleum system defined in the basin and includes: hydrocarbon source rocks, reservoir rocks, and hydrocarbon traps.

British Petroleum has been working on alternative fuels for a long time and they appear to be increasing their wagers in those areas. Their recent big bet is to invest $500 million over ten years on the Energy Biosciences Institute. EBI will consist of labs at the University of California Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. EBI researchers will study the technology and ethics of bioscience applied to energy.

Illinois Map

Conifer needles nearly 315 million years old, ancient scorpion parts and well preserved spores of lycopods were found in a cave discovered by faculty and students on a University of Illinois at Chicago field trip. I don’t know which is more surprising… the discovery of North America’s oldest conifer or the discovery of a new cave just two hours outside of Chicago?