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Possible Hydroseismic Triggering For Small Earthquakes Occurring Within The Fox River Valley, Northeastern Illinois, James Benco

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In February, 2010 the town of Lily Lake experienced a magnitude 3.8 earthquake. This was followed by small earthquakes of magnitude 2-3 in the same general area in 2012 (McHenry), 2013 (Campton Hills) and 2015 (Lake of the Hills). Seismicity within this region is poorly understood. The Fox River Valley (here defined as the Fox River drainage basin) area is not historically seismically active, nor does it lie above a mapped fault. This study examines the timing of these earthquakes and the hypothesis they were triggered by pore-pressure increases at depth from large rainfall events several months earlier. A pressure …