Examiner.com article on Michigan earthquake

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake centered southeast of Kalamazoo shook Michigan early Saturday afternoon.
Credit: National Weather Service, Grand Rapids Office.

Saturday's earthquake the strongest to hit Michigan since 1947

The earthquake that struck Michigan at 12:23 P.M. Saturday was the strongest to hit the state since 1947, according to experts at the University of Michigan.  The tremor, which registered 4.2 on the Richter scale, originated at at depth of 3.2 miles beneath a point five miles south of Galesberg, which is nine miles southeast of Kalamazoo and fourteen miles west-southwest of Battle Creek, according to the the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

Despite the most power generated by an earthquake in Michigan in 67 years, no injuries were reported according to the Detroit Free Press.  One photograph from a Twitter user published by the Free Press claimed to show some broken glass caused by the earthquake.  This was consistent with the USGS's intensity map of the tremor.  The areas where the shaking was strongest could experience minor damage to objects knocked off walls and shelves.

Larry Ruff, a seismologist at the University of Michigan, commented that earthquakes the size of the one that shook Michigan on Saturday were rare.  "We feel a lot of relatively small earthquakes in the state, but most of them occur to the south of Michigan," Ruff said in a press release. "So to have an earthquake of this magnitude with the epicenter in Michigan is very unusual."

More at the link, including a reassurance that this has nothing to do with fracking.  Considering that there actually aren't any gas or oil wells that use fracking nearby and that the most powerful earthquake in Michigan history hit a city only 50 miles away well before fracking began, I accept that claim.

I'll get around to the Monthly Meta eventually.  Stay tuned for a Star Wars  Day post in the meantime.