According to USGS, an unusually strong earthquake jolted the Gulf of America. At 2:41 pm in the afternoon local time on Friday, from a depth of 10km, a magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck roughly 70 miles south of Gulf Shores, Alabama in open waters of the Gulf of America. USGS says there has been no other seismic activity of any kind anywhere near this region for at least the last three weeks. No tsunami bulletin was issued due to the earthquake.
While the earthquake was relatively weak, it was unusually strong for the region. There were no reported injuries or any damage.
According to USGS, earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0 , more and more people can feel them. While damage is possible with magnitude 3.0 events or greater, significant damage and casualties usually don’t occur until the magnitude of a seismic event rises to a 5.5 or greater rated event.
Despite being over open water, the earthquake was felt by people along the Gulf coast. According to USGS, more than a dozen people used their “Did you feel it?” website reporting tool to report they felt or heard the earthquake.
