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Another Stronger Quake Rattles Ohio, Second in Two Days

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The epicenter of Friday's earthquake is at the yellow star inside the concentric colored circles on this map. Image: USGS
The epicenter of Friday’s earthquake is at the yellow star inside the concentric colored circles on this map. Image: USGS



Another earthquake has rattled Ohio; this is the second quake in two days to impact the northeast corner of the state and is stronger than the first. Friday’s magnitude 2.1 event was stronger than Thursday’s 1.9 magnitude earthquake, and like the earlier quake, people reported feeling shaking to the USGS. The Friday earthquake struck at 4:58 pm in the afternoon near Madison, Ohio, less than 2 miles away from the earlier earthquake. As with the first, this second quake’s epicenter had a depth of 5 km.

History of earthquakes across Ohio from 1776-2007. Image: USGS
History of earthquakes across Ohio from 1776-2007. Image: USGS

USGS previously reported that an earthquake rattled northern Ohio Thursday afternoon. According to USGS, at 3:11 pm ET, a magnitude 1.9 earthquake struck just outside of Madison in northeastern Ohio; the epicenter had a depth of 5 km. Madison  is located about 30 miles west of the Ohio / Pennsylvania state line and is north and east of Cleveland.  While no damages or injuries were reported, several people used the “Did you feel it?” web reporting tool to let USGS know they felt shaking in northern Ohio.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio has deployed a seismic network with 21 seismograph stations throughout the state that continuously monitor and record earthquake activity. The Ohio Seismic Network (OhioSeis) went online in January 1999, ending a five-year gap during which there was only one operating station in Ohio. Ohio has 24/7 monitoring and coverage by seismic stations with automatic detection, location and magnitude determination.

 


Earthquake activity in Ohio is not common. A magnitude 2.6 earthquake struck outside of Toledo in May.  Before that, an earthquake hit on March 20 about 14 miles southwest of Gallipolis; it was a magnitude 2.3 event. On February 4, an even weaker magnitude 2.0 event struck near Athens. On January 23, an earthquake of the same magnitude, 2.0, struck near Fairport Harbor.

USGS says Ohio has experienced more than 160 felt earthquakes since 1776. Most of these events caused no damage or injuries. However, 15 Ohio earthquakes resulted in property damage and some minor injuries. The largest historic earthquake in the state occurred in 1937. The 1936 event had an estimated magnitude of 5.4 and caused considerable damage in the town of Anna and in several other western Ohio communities.