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3.8 magnitude earthquake hits area northwest of Hampton, NB

Earthquakes Canada has confirmed a 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit an area 17 kilometres northwest of Hampton in southern New Brunswick this morning.

Nick Ackerley, an Earthquakes Canada seismologist, said the earthquake happened at 9:49 a.m. AT, approximately 17 kilometres west-northwest of Hampton and 35 kilometres north of Saint John.

Its preliminary magnitude was reported as 3.7, but Earthquakes Canada upgraded it later Thursday.

It was an “intraplate earthquake,” a type that happened inside the tectonic plate, as opposed to an interplate earthquake, which occurs in areas at the edge of a tectonic plate.

“The causes include things like long-dormant faults from previous mountain-building episodes, and glacial rebound,” Ackerley said.

“This part of Canada was under glaciers until about 10,000 years ago, and when the weight of the ice was lifted off, the Earth is slowly springing back, and that causes stress in the crust of the Earth.”

The government of New Brunswick tweeted officials are aware and are monitoring the earthquake.

Earthquakes Canada has confirmed a 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit an area 17 kilometres northwest of Hampton in southern New Brunswick this morning.

Nick Ackerley, an Earthquakes Canada seismologist, said the earthquake happened at 9:49 a.m. AT, approximately 17 kilometres west-northwest of Hampton and 35 kilometres north of Saint John.

Its preliminary magnitude was reported as 3.7, but Earthquakes Canada upgraded it later Thursday.

It was an “intraplate earthquake,” a type that happened inside the tectonic plate, as opposed to an interplate earthquake, which occurs in areas at the edge of a tectonic plate.

“The causes include things like long-dormant faults from previous mountain-building episodes, and glacial rebound,” Ackerley said.

“This part of Canada was under glaciers until about 10,000 years ago, and when the weight of the ice was lifted off, the Earth is slowly springing back, and that causes stress in the crust of the Earth.”

The government of New Brunswick tweeted officials are aware and are monitoring the earthquake.

Hughes said there’s no visible damage to her home.

Lee Jacobs said she and her husband heard a low rumbling that lasted for several seconds before the house starting “shaking violently.”

“I said, ‘What is that?’ And as soon as I said those words, the house started shaking. You could hear the sound before the shaking started.”

She called the earthquake an “unnerving” experience

3.8-magnitude quake considered minor

A 3.8 magnitude quake “could be widely felt,” according to Ackerley, depending on the depth at which it occurred.

That being said, a 3.8 magnitude is still considered to be a minor earthquake and unlikely to cause damage.

Earthquakes, while rarely severe, aren’t unheard of in New Brunswick.

In the spring of 2018, Earthquakes Canada recorded a “swarm” of 22 minor quakes on the western edge of the province near McAdam, a village also also rattled by a 3.3 magnitude earthquake in 2016.

In November 2016, a magnitude 3.1 earthquake was recorded 23 kilometres west-northwest of Miramichi.

But the last major earthquake, a magnitude 5, hit the Miramichi area in the 1980s, the largest earthquake to have affected the Maritimes since 1929.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/earthquake-hits-northwest-of-hampton-1.4972818