Source: Charles Duncan
Six earthquakes in six days rattled communities throughout the Northeast and surrounding areas in Canada, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The strongest was a 3.1-magnitude earthquake at about 6:43 a.m. Wednesday in Upstate New York, the USGS said. More than 2,000 people reported feeling the quake about 45 miles north of Albany.
The quake was felt as far away as Albany, according to the USGS.
A pair of 2.7-magnitude earthquakes have also hit the region over the past week. One hit in Montreal, on the city’s island on the St. Lawrence River, at about 4:20 p.m. Friday, USGS data shows. About 300 people reported feeling shaking from the quake, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
Another 2.7-magnitude earthquake was reported in the ocean about 31 miles off Old Orchard Beach, Maine, at about 3 p.m. Monday, according to the USGS.
That was the second quake in the region Monday. At 8 a.m., a 2.2-magnitude earthquake struck about 21 miles north-northeast of Augusta, Maine, according to the USGS.
Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech.
Geologists are not sure what caused the earthquakes in New England and Quebec.
“New England and Long Island are far from the nearest plate boundaries, which are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. New England is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even the known faults are poorly located at the depths of most earthquakes,” according to the USGS.
“Few, if any, earthquakes in New England can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in New England and Long Island is the earthquakes themselves.”
The same is true for the Adirondack region and Quebec, the USGS said.
The last earthquake in New England to cause “moderate damage” was in 1940 when a 5.6-magnitude temblor hit central New Hampshire, according to the USGS.
On Sunday a smaller 1.9-magnitude earthquake hit over the border in New Hampshire, about 10 miles from the state capital Concord.
The first quake in the area over the past week was a 1.7-magnitude that hit Thursday on the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick.
