Over 600 people in New Jersey used the “Did you feel it?” web-based reporting tool on the USGS website to say they felt shaking from the latest earthquake to strike the region from a sequence that began last Saturday. It is likely this earthquake is the 47th aftershock from an earthquake that struck New Jersey Saturday morning.
Today’s earthquake, a magnitude 2.6 event, struck from a depth of 5 km just southwest of Gladstone, a location near all the other recent earthquakes in New Jersey. Today’s earthquake was the third strongest of the series that began at 10:23 am on Saturday with a magnitude 4.8 earthquake.
While there was an abundance of shaking reports today, there were no reports of additional damage or injuries.
USGS says the odds for additional noticeable earthquakes continues to drop. According to USGS, there is now only a 21% chance of a magnitude 3.0+ earthquake here over the next 30 days; those odds drop to 3% for a magnitude 4.0+ earthquake, and are below 1% for magnitude 5.0+ events.
“The aftershock forecast for this sequence is now based on observed aftershocks of magnitude 2 and greater. Starting on April 7, we are determining the rate of decay from the present sequence rather than previous sequences in similar regions. This sequence is decaying faster than those previous sequences and this change will decrease the forecasted activity, especially at longer time periods such as the next month or year,” USGS said in an update today.
Foreshocks and aftershocks are earthquakes; the first sometimes will strike before a main earthquake, with aftershocks following the main earthquake. Once a sequence of earthquakes end, scientists can go back and classify what was a foreshock and what was an aftershock.
