Devon shook by biggest earthquake in UK for six years

Just been reading that South West UK has been rocked with a 4.1 magnitude Earthquake at lunchtime today!
www.mirror.co.uk...
I didn't realise that Earthquakes were common here in the UK.

Earthquakes are common in Britain and the area which has had the most seismic activity in recent months is around New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire. Since mid December BGS has recorded 55 small quakes there.

Apparently Twitter was red-hot with tweets from those who felt it.

Earthquakes in the UK, who wudda thunk it?

reply to post by doobydoll


They weren't until the fracking companies started pumping chemicals underground to crack the earth.

iRoyalty
reply to post by doobydoll

 

They weren't until the fracking companies started pumping chemicals underground to crack the earth.

You cant simply blame fracking companies, that's just misinformation. There have many quakes in the UK going back decades.

reply to post by Tindalos2013


True, however time will tell, if we start having an 'irregular' series of quakes or more violent quakes, then I will look at the people who are literally cracking the plates of the earth apart.

We are not on plates that cause it, we get little after shocks but not full blown ones.

reply to post by doobydoll


I live in Merseyside and i didnt feel a thing, i am 300+ miles away tho.

iRoyalty
reply to post by doobydoll

 

They weren't until the fracking companies started pumping chemicals underground to crack the earth.

This is likley caused by the flood.

A few years back when we had heavy flooding in kent we got hits by a few earthquakes.

what happens is that underground cavens collapse.

crazyewok
This is likley caused by the flood.

A few years back when we can heavy flooding in kent we got hits by a few earthquakes.

what happens is that underground cavens collapse.

Probably a more educated theory, fracking just gets me a bit mad sometimes.

reply to post by crazyewok


It was under the sea.

crazyewok

iRoyalty
reply to post by doobydoll

 

They weren't until the fracking companies started pumping chemicals underground to crack the earth.

This is likley caused by the flood.

A few years back when we had heavy flooding in kent we got hits by a few earthquakes.

what happens is that underground cavens collapse.

edit on 20-2-2014 by crazyewok because: (no reason given)

Don't forget the sinkhole that opened up on the M2 motorway last week.

As far as I can recall earthquakes are quite regular in the UK, just not very strong one's.

As I'm sure everyone is aware earthquakes tend to be measured on The Richter Scale; every full point is increased 10 fold - an earthquake measuring 5 is 10 times stronger than one measuring 4.
Earthquakes of a magnitude 4.0 - 4.9 as described as;

Noticeable shaking of indoor objects and rattling noises. Felt by most people in the affected area. Slightly felt outside. Generally causes none to minimal damage. Moderate to significant damage very unlikely. Some objects may fall off shelves or be knocked over.

en.wikipedia.org...

Apparently the strongest earthquake in the UK was measured at 6.1 back in 1931.
en.wikipedia.org...

The strongest earthquake ever recorded was 9.5 in Chile in 1960.

Seems that where earthquakes are concerned, as with many other naturally occurring phenomena, we are very lucky living here in the UK.

There was one a few years ago near where I live, not very strong at all but apparently the tremors were felt across the region. I didn't notice it at all, probably because I had headphones on listening to some very loud music.

I didn't feel a thing (we're about ten miles from Bristol, where many people claim they did feel it). I do remember the 4.7 magnitude earthquake at Dudley in the English Midlands on 22 September 2002. I was living about 30 miles away at the time, and was working on my computer just before midnight when there was a sudden jolt, and the sensation of a 'wave' passing under the house.

In February 2008, the 5.2 quake near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire made china rattle in in our house in Bath - over 200 miles from the epicentre.

reply to post by doobydoll


Cosidering the amount of water that has covered this larger than large zone, for such a long time, there must be excessive weight plus excessive 'Hydraulic' pressure on the base sub surface. Pressure that at the bottom has a reason to spread out wider and therefore create more lower caverne/s to gradually fail. Yes a personal assumption, but the multiple tonnage of such regional water runs close to the 9.000 lb per sq inch of Hydraulic pressure the Fracking companies are said to apply. Something has to give and sure enough whatever it was, it is that which possibly created a fresh Earthquake. Which they say was about 5km below. A personal assumption, but until someone explains better, i will stick with such.