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Recent Sightings Recent sightings: Seismometer image of Midwest earthquake

April 18, 2008

Image from seismograph

A UW–Madison geology department seismometer in Weeks Hall recorded the tremors of an earthquake that shook Madison and many other areas of the Midwest this morning (April 18).

Centered six miles from the town of West Salem in southern Illinois, the 4:40 a.m. quake had a magnitude of 5.2 and lasted for roughly a minute. It was followed by a sizable aftershock at 10:15 am that was also felt in Madison, according to UW–Madison geologists.

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