You may not have felt the devastating earthquakes that hit Chile and Haiti, but a well in Central Nebraska did.

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln groundwater expert spotted the hydroseismic activity last week.

"It's exciting to realize that we're connected to other parts of the earth," said Jesse Korus, groundwater resources coordinator for the Conservation and Survey Division in UNL's School of Natural Resources.

Korus checked the strip chart recorder in a water well near Aurora on March 2 and found spikes in the water levels chart corresponding to the Feb. 27 Chile quake and Jan. 12 Haiti quake.

Korus says the strip chart recorder is a 1930s technology that uses pen and ink connected to a floating bobber.

"Essentially what is is an up and down blip, a sudden rise and fall in the water level within a well," said UNL Professor Matt Joeckel. "The aquifer-the water baring layer of geological material-is, as it were, squeezed a little bit by the energy released by a distant earthquake."

It's not the first time this well has registered what scientists call a hydroseism.

"They've all been from high magnitude earthquakes from some distance away from Nebraska. Places like Mexico, Alaska, Central America, Indonesia," said Joeckel.

But lower magnitude earthquakes in Nebraska have not registered.

This data has been recorded, but not used.

Nebraska researchers say the potential use is open-ended, and now is the time to start studying it.

"I think we are at least going to compile the relevant data and maybe publish some graphics on the hydroseisms we've recorded," said Joeckel.

He says activity like this has the potential to effect water quality and the aquifer itself, but that hasn't occurred in Nebraska.

Only one other well in the state has recorded hydroseismic activity.

That well is located in Lincoln, but no longer has the equipment that caught these two major earthquakes. Korus says most of the recorders measuring groundwater in Nebraska have been replaced by digital monitors that, because they don't continuously monitor levels, are less likely to record the seismic activity.

Korus says Thursday morning's earthquake in Chile did not register. He says that quake was a 6.9, but ones recorded in Nebraska have been a magnitude seven or higher.

The UNL Conservation and Survey Division has been monitoring ground water levels in the state's aquifer for decades, but didn't start recording hydro-seismic activity until the 1980's.

Korus says there are 24 wells located throughout South central Nebraska.