EARTHQUAKES4.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles U.S. North-East
With its epicenter in in New Jersey, a 4.8 magnitude tremor and was felt across the eastern seaboard, in what scientists say is a relatively rare event for the region. Earthquakes in the eastern United States are felt across broader areas that earthquakes in other parts of the United States because the bedrock is much older and harder, transferring seismic energy more easily.
The U,S, Geological Survey (USGS) said that Friday morning a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook the New York City metropolitan area, in what scientists say is a relatively rare event for the region.
USGS said the location for the epicenter was near Tewksbury and Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.
The New York police department’s deputy commissioner of operations, Kaz Daughtry, said in a statement: “While we do not have any reports of major impacts at this time, we’re still assessing the impact.”
“New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” said the mayor, Eric Adams, but the governor, Kathy Hochul, said in a press conference that the quake was felt as far away as Baltimore, Maryland. “This is one of the largest earthquakes on the east coast to occur in the last century,” she said.
“Everyone should continue to take this seriously” in case of aftershocks, she added.
Flights into and out of New York’s JFK and New Jersey’s Newark international airports were delayed. East coast train services were slowed but not canceled and New York City public transit continued running.
Hochul’s office reminded residents that “while highly unusual” the earthquake was not an isolated event as New York sites on geological fault lines. The tremor was felt across New England and south in Pennsylvania and Maryland, including in Baltimore, where Joe Biden was expected on Friday afternoon to tour the damage of the major bridge that collapsed there ten days ago.
The tremors brought memories of the 23 August 2011earthquake which was felt by tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada. The magnitude 5.8, with its epicenter in Virginia, was the strongest quake to jolt the east coast since the second world war.
USGS notes that earthquakes in the eastern United States are felt across broader areas that earthquakes in other parts of the United States because the bedrock is much older and harder, transferring seismic energy more easily. The rocks in the western United States are younger and contain more faults that absorb earthquake energy.
The USGS also said:
The April 5, 2024, M 4.8 earthquake near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, occurred as a result of oblique reverse and strike-slip faulting at shallow depths in the crust. Although this event did not occur near a plate boundary, such “intraplate” earthquakes can and do occur. While this earthquake is relatively small globally, earthquakes of this magnitude are commonly widely felt in the eastern United States because of efficient seismic wave propagation in the region.
Earthquakes in the eastern US are infrequent but not unexpected. Since 1950, 40 other earthquakes of magnitude 3 and larger have occurred within 250 km of today’s earthquake. In that time range, the April 5, 2024, earthquake is the largest. Within 500 km of the April 5th earthquake, 13 earthquakes M 4.5 and larger have been recorded since 1950, the largest being the August 23, 2011, M 5.8 Mineral Virginia earthquake which caused substantial damage and was felt throughout the eastern US. The April 5, 2024, earthquake occurred in a region where faults have been previously identified and may be reactivated at any time.
