ELLIS GROVE, Ill. – There was a small earthquake southeast of St. Louis Friday night. The USGS reports a 2.2 magnitude quake occurred about four miles east of Ellis Grove, Illinois at around 7:50 pm. The depth was around 6.5 miles.
The earthquake happened in the Illinois Basin of the Ozark Dome region. It borders the much more seismically active New Madrid seismic zone. The basin stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis. A 5.4 magnitude earthquake damaged parts of southern Illinois in 1968. That is the largest quake reported in the region.