Two earthquakes have taken place in the Irish Sea off England early this morning, according to the British Geological Survey.
The strongest was a 3.3 magnitude tremor with the epicentre off the coast of Blackpool at 10.58am, which was 5km deep. It was felt by people on the British mainland with its epicentre 23km from Fleetwood, 25km from Blackpool and 185km from Dublin in the Irish Sea. The Irish National Seismic Network recorded the quake in seismometers in Donegal and Wexford.
An earlier earthquake in the same location at 6.36am was 2.4 magnitude and was some 3km deep according to the report by the geological organisation.
A 3.3 quake is categorised as minor on the Richter scale, with shaking often felt by people but rarely causing any damage. British media outlets are not reporting any injuries but some social media users in the north west of England reported reported feeling the shaking on Twitter..
The Irish National Seismic Network , which monitors seismic activity, has said that today’s earthquakes were “most likely the result of glacial rebound, the process whereby stresses built up the weight of glaciers from the last Ice Age are slowly released”.
Director of the network Tom Blake said only residents closest to the epicentre were likely are likely to have felt any shaking. He said further tremors were possible during the coming days.
“It is impossible to tell if stronger earthquakes will occur in the coming days and weeks, but aftershocks can be expected even if most if not all will be too weak to be felt,” he said.
It was not as strong as the Irish Sea earthquake on May 29th this year. The epicentre of the quake, which registered at magnitude 3.8, was 15km away from the town of Abersoch in Gwynedd, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.
