Sunday began with a weak earthquake hitting the Maine coast. Although no damage was reported, some people took advantage of the USGS “Did you feel it?” website. Tool to report that they were shaking. The magnitude 1.9 faint event occurred at 5:25 a.m. west of Steuben, Maine, according to the USGS. Steuben is located northeast of tourist-popular Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park on Maine’s Atlantic Coast.
While Maine isn’t famous for its earthquakes, it does get them from time to time. Today’s earthquake was the third and strongest of the three earthquakes to hit the state in the past 30 days; the others were a magnitude 1.1 event in Newry on November 6 and a magnitude 1.6 event on October 29.
The last notable earthquake occurred in mid-September when a magnitude 2.3 event played out in Greenwood.
Other earthquakes also struck Maine earlier this year. On April 24, an earthquake of similar intensity to this most recent tremor struck central Maine. Earlier this month, on April 2, a 2.0 magnitude earthquake struck about 7 miles southeast of Waterville, near the Winslow-China city line. On March 8, a magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck about 2 miles north of Tunk Lake in eastern Hancock County. On February 12, a magnitude 2.4 earthquake struck 12 miles west of Houlton; Some locals reported that they were shaking at the time. On February 4, a magnitude 2.9 event was widely felt in the Bethel area of western Maine, 8 miles from the epicenter in Gorham, New Hampshire. People as far as 25 miles from the epicenter of this earthquake felt it in Maine. Two magnitude 2.0 earthquakes on January 17; one was 2 miles west of Springvale, the other was about 1/2 mile south of Springvale.
The strongest earthquake to strike Maine in the past 10 years was a magnitude 4.5 event on October 16, 2012 in East Waterboro, about 13 miles northwest of Saco.
According to the Maine Geological Survey with the Department of Conservation, seismic activity in Maine is typical of the Appalachian region of northeastern North America. “There is a low but steady frequency of earthquakes,” they report, adding, “The earthquakes are believed to be caused by modern stress occasionally released along weak points in the Earth’s crust, but a more specific cause of the earthquake activity is not.” known.”