Earthquake in Bergen County shakes components of New Jersey, New York

An earthquake in Bergen County shook components of New Jersey and New York on Saturday evening. That is the second earthquake in New Jersey in lower than two weeks.

At 10:18 p.m., an earthquake registering 3.0 on the Richter Scale was recorded in Hasbrouck Heights.

The Richter Scale ranges from 1-9, with 1 being the weakest, and 9 being the strongest.

New Jersey earthquake felt in New York Metropolis, Decrease Hudson Valley

Although comparatively weak, the quake was felt as distant as 65 miles, reaching into western Connecticut and the Decrease Hudson Valley. Quite a few residents in and round New York Metropolis have reported that they felt the rumbling as properly.

No harm has been reported to date, although aftershocks might happen all through the following few days.

This newest quake comes on the heels of a collection of small quakes centered across the Morris Plains space in New Jersey on July 21 and July 22.

The preliminary quake throughout that spherical registered at solely a 1.6 in magnitude on July 21. Nonetheless, 5 aftershocks adopted into the day and evening of July 22, with the fourth aftershock registering larger than the preliminary shock, coming in at 2.0 in magnitude. Little to no harm was reported from that spherical.

Previous earthquakes within the Tri-State Space

Though New Jersey will not be identified to be a hotbed of seismic exercise, corresponding to locations like California or Japan, it does have a quite energetic fault line that traverses the north central a part of the state. This fault line, often called the Ramapo Fault line, is liable for producing a number of quakes a yr. These quakes are normally small, and should not felt removed from outdoors their epicenters in northern New Jersey.

There are exceptions to this although. One instance was simply final yr, when a 4.8 magnitude quake centered in Tewksbury, New Jersey, shook workplace buildings throughout New York Metropolis, and was felt as distant as Maine and Virginia on April 5, 2024. That current quake did produce some harm to houses in New Jersey, and was estimated to be felt by 42 million individuals, in keeping with the USGS.

Over 205 aftershocks carried on for weeks and even months after the preliminary quake. The strongest had a 3.7 magnitude, which occurred seven hours after the primary quake. 

The earthquake of April 5, 2024, was additionally the second strongest earthquake in New Jersey historical past. The strongest quake recorded within the Backyard State occurred on Nov. 29, 1783, and registered a 5.3 in magnitude.