A tremor that shook La Grange and other nearby western suburbs this afternoon may have been caused by blasting at a quarry in McCook, village officials said.
Numerous residents reported "a short shaking/tremor sensation" at appoximately 1 p.m., according to a news flash published on the village website.
The tremor lasted from one to three seconds, according to various accounts from residents and office workers interviewed this afternoon in downtown La Grange.
Village officials said they were "in the process of communicating with both the Vulcan Materials and Lehigh-Hanson quarries," which are located in McCook, southeast of the intersection of 47th St and East Ave. But officials apparently had not obtained confirmation from either company that blasting caused the tremor.
A Vulcan spokesman reportedly told the Doings newspaper that no blasting was conducted in its quarry at 1 p.m. The newspaper said it was unable to reach a spokesperson from Lehigh-Hanson.
Rumors that the event was a naturally occurring earthquake were fueled by a report from the U.S. Geological Survey's national earthquake center, which measured the tremor at a magnitude of 2.7 on the Richter scale.
However, a description of the event posted on the center's website pinpointed the source of the tremor in McCook, prompting the USGS to also label the event a "possible quarry blast."
The village news flash noted that its officials "have received several calls from residents related to other quarry blasting activities in the past several days."