Chicago Quarry Explosion

I had thought my first thread would be about one of the more complex topics I have been considering, but I just heard this on the radio and it got me thinking.

abclocal.go.com...

www.inquisitr.com...

First reports by seismologists indicate that it was an earthquake 1.7 miles underground. The story was quickly changed to a quarry explosion. Locals say that they have never heard or felt something like this, despite living near the quarry for decades.

A few things occurred to me that don't seem to fit this quarry explanation. Blasting 1.7 miles deep implies a mine and not a quarry (which are typically open-pit excavations). From what I understand, underground bunkers are built about 2 miles underground. This quake registered over 3.5 on the richter scale, which I believe is stronger than a normal tremor. This thing was felt miles away from the quarry, and residents say it was powerful rumble.

Is there anyone on ATS who lives in the area, or maybe someone with mining experience who could shed some light?

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist


Maybe is was the D.U.M.B. located in Chicago?

nstarzone.com...

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist


I lived and worked around that area for years and never felt or heard about earthquakes caused by faults or mining.

reply to post by grey580


My thought as well. That topic fascinates me. Some reports about subterrenes make it sound as though they can move through rock like a submarine through water.

Just thought I would see if anyone could present a more...conventional explanation.

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist

maybe someone with mining experience who could shed some light?

Its possible that miners were 'longholing'.

1) Longhole blasts normally occurs at the end of the day shift after the main shift has exited the mine. From experience this would occur at 3PM to 3.30PM. The debris would then be extracted (mucked out) from the level below during the following afternoon and night shift.

2) Richter scale 3 quakes are common. With the Deep Reef mines in South Africa the primary blasts can create earthquakes in the region of Richter level 5.

I send a lot of technicians out to service the mines in Chicago. They all have to be MSHA certified... Which reminds me that they are going back for ther certification soon... Anyway~

These mines are deeper than what you stated in the OP. And none of my tech's like going down there....

Have not heard anything about this yet but I will bring it to the attention of my manager. Thank you~

reply to post by Daughter2


Thanks, that is what some residents are saying. Do you, or anyone else, know anything about military activity in this particular area? Excavation of a D.U.M.B. would have to leave signs. Though it is possible the entrance is the quarry itself, which would make it easy to hide materials in plain sight.

reply to post by sulaw


All right, thanks to you and Rapha for bringing some insight on mining techniques.

It may well could have been planned activity at the mine, or simply an accident. Given the reports from residents that this is unusual for the area, I am more inclined to believe the latter. Or maybe, as Raph suggested, it is a normal part of quarry expansion that is not done frequently.

Or it's Phil Schneider's ghost throwing thermonuclear grenades at reptillians. :p

I was at a customer site in Addison, IL and definitely felt the shaking... It almost knocked items off my clients desk... I definitely considered it odd, just figured it was the New Madrid Fault waking up to say "hello" to us all and let us all know he/she can cause I great pain if he/she chooses to

There is also the possibility the "quake" wasn't near as deep as they initially thought and they over packed a blasting hole.

It used to happen from time to time when I lived across the road from a quarry. The blast can become quite intense.

It only happened rarely. Normally we would never even hear their blasts, but man, when they screwed up I thought it was gonna shake our house off its foundation.

ETA: come to think of it I can't remember if that happens cuz the hole is over packed or under packed.
I think its cuz there is too LITTLE powder in a hole.

Whichever it is, it makes one hell of a boom.

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist


Military no but I would say McCook sits between Argonne National Labs and Midway airport. It's approx. 5-10 miles between each one. If there is anything super secret going on it's at Argonne (this is the place with all the atomic testing) but 10 miles is a long way to dig a tunnel.

reply to post by Daughter2


Interesting, I did not realize there was any nuclear activity in the area. If we can believe half the stories about boring machines, then a 10 mile tunnel is not even a day's work for engineers. Those boring machines are supposedly nuclear-powered, by the way...

I checked out satellite images of the quarry named in the article. It is indeed an open-pit mine. My understanding is that they would not normally drill down and blast two miles deep when they are extracting material from the surfaces of the pit. Any experts that can clarify this?

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist


Yeah the Nuclear powered tbms

www.abovetopsecret.com...





I'm sure it's been built.

reply to post by OpenMindedRealist


When I first saw it as a quake I went and looked. Then they listed it as a quarry and I went back and looked again, quarry near Chicago? Well, yes there is one.



But would like to know if planned or accident?

One of our resident EQ folks could tell us how much KN2 for a 3.7?

I live just over the border from Illinois and there are some quarries around the area, one is the Thorton quarry which 80/94 passes over and its quite visible from google earth. If you look up the deep tunnel project you might get some more info as it empties into this quarry. Im not sure if their still working on it but maybe they were blasting for that. As far as i know it goes quite deep too.

reply to post by ed1320


Another plausible explanation. Thanks for info on the TARP/deep tunnel project.

I work in a quarry just up the road from where this blast took place. The news is that 7 seconds after the blast an event happened........earthquake. Was it the cause? Sure it could have been........maybe it ran through a vein underground and triggered something. It is possible so I am not sure what the big conspiracy here is. BTW there are quarries all over the Chicago area, some of them like the one I work at, are currently being filled with dirt/clay/material to be returned to the town it is located in.