More than 1,000 people used the USGS website and its “Did you feel it?” web reporting tool to report shaking they felt from an earthquake to strike Maine this afternoon. According to USGS, at 2:50 pm today, a magnitude 2.8 earthquake struck from a depth of 8.1 km outside of Gardiner, Maine, which is southwest of Augusta. People reported hearing loud “booms” when the quake struck. There were no reports of damage or injuries.
Just days ago, on July 19, another earthquake struck near Augusta. That quake, where the epicenter was just east of Augusta, struck at 7:36 pm from a depth of 2.5 km; it was only a magnitude 2.1 event.
While not famous for their earthquakes, Maine does get them from time to time. A magnitude 2.5 struck west of August on August 8, 2023. On September 16 last year, a weaker magnitude 2.3 earthquake struck to the west of today’s. On April 24, 2022, an earthquake of similar intensity also struck central Maine. Earlier that month, on April 2, a magnitude 2.0 earthquake struck about 7 miles southeast of Waterville, near the Winslow-China town 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 feeling shaking then. 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 up to 25 miles away from the epicenter of that earthquake felt it in Maine. Two earthquakes of a 2.0 magnitude hit 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 last 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 rate of earthquake occurrence,” they report, adding that “The earthquakes are presumably caused by modern stress being released occasionally along zones of weakness in the earth’s crust, but a more specific cause for the earthquake activity is not known.”
