A series of small quakes isn't unusual in New England.
Scientists on Monday recorded five small earthquakes within five hours in the same area of eastern Connecticut, including a 3.1-magnitude tremor felt more than 60 miles away in Massachusetts.
These quakes followed two smaller quakes in the same area last week. There were reports of shaking, but no major damage or injuries.
The Weston Observatory at Boston College reported that the quakes were recorded Monday near Danielson and in Plainfield. They included four quakes within 20 minutes beginning just after 6:30 am, including the 3.1-magnitude tremor, and a 1.3-magnitude quake just after noon.
Plainfield earthquake showed up well on Yale seismograph as well. pic.twitter.com/rDFveqkwVD
— Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) January 12, 2015
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 3.1-magnitude tremor was felt in Rhode Island, as well as in Massachusetts in New Bedford and Framingham.
A series of small quakes isn't unusual in New England. Why do we get them at all? WNPR's science reporter Patrick Skahill tackled that question in a post on his blog, The Beaker:
With no tectonic plate boundaries near Connecticut, why does the state get these earthquakes at all? [Weston Observatory research assistant Justin] Starr said there are a few theories about this, but one explanation lies in the distinction between inter-and-intra plate earthquakes. Interplate quakes are what they get out in California. Here in New England, we get intraplate, which are quakes that happen within a plate, far removed from any major tectonic fault lines. "In the middle of the plate we have certain areas of weakness, faults that were formed millions of years ago that today are being reactivated," Starr said, adding that one reason why they are being reactivated is because the entire North American Plate (the ground Connecticut lives on) is being slightly compressed from the east to the west by the Mid-Ocean ridge. “As you have this compression, stress builds on these old faults. Those faults rupture and you have an earthquake,” Starr said.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
