USGS reports earthquake in Clintonville

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Experts at the U.S. Geological Survey reported Thursday, March 22, that the shaking and strange booming noises Clintonville residents have been hearing and feeling since Sunday, March 19, was a 1.5-magnitude earthquake.

Residents reported nearly every day hearing and feeling the phenomena, which kept people awake and concerned. Callers described the feeling as a shaking or rumbling and the noises as cracks or booms of thunder.

According to Tom Evans, Assistant Director with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey (WGNHS), Wisconsin has experienced about a dozen minor events attributed to low seismic activities in the last 100 years. He says Wisconsin sits on a relatively stable part of the continent.

Clintonville City Administrator Lisa Kuss said there was no trouble with the city’s utilities or landfill. She says people have been concerned but not panicked. Most reports confirm that the noises seem to emanate from under the ground, mostly in the city’s northeast quarter.

Other reports on the incident(s) say the city has received a few hundred calls about the shaking and booming noises. There have been no reports of damages or injuries.

Clintonville held a public meeting Thursday, attended by 300 residents who shared their theories about the origin of the noises. They suspect a drop in the water table, temperature changes, motion relative to the recent earthquake in Mexico, the forming of an underwater lake and other ideas.

Details about the earthquake are available at the USGS website, www.earthquakes.gov. Type Clintonville in the search bar.

Tags: wisconsin, weather, environment, government