Minor earthquake shakes McHenry

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Updated: March 2, 2012 8:13AM

A minor earthquake Monday night in McHenry County shook some residents but did no damage, officials said.

The earthquake occurred at 9:54 p.m. about 3.2 miles underground near the town of McHenry, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center.

The seismic event measured just 2.4 on the Richter scale, which qualifies it only as a minor earthquake, said Shengzao Chen, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.

Officials have received no reports of damage or injuries, Chen said. Residents probably only felt the ground shake for a few seconds.

The last earthquakes in the region took place in 2010, when separate 3.8- and 2.7-magnitude quakes struck in western Elgin.

The Feb. 10, 2010, quake occurred about 4 a.m. that day and was determined by USGS scientists to have occurred 3.1 miles underneath a snow-covered cornfield farmed by Bob and Beth Gehrke at the southwest corner of Switzer Road and Route 20.

Officials earlier Tuesday had initially placed the epicenter of Tuesday’s quake just over the Wisconsin border, but new information shows the quake occurred on the Illinois side.