3.5 Magnitude quake in Bar Harbor, ME leaves no damage

[Ian David]

BAR HARBOR, Maine --Another earthquake shook Mount Desert Island on Friday, continuing the string of quakes and aftershocks that have been felt since late September.

Friday's rumbling was felt at around 4:20 p.m. and prompted about a dozen phone calls to Bar Harbor police, but no damages or injuries were reported.

The latest tremor had a magnitude of 3.5 and was centered in Frenchman Bay just east of Hulls Cove, according to the Weston Observatory at Boston College, which tracks seismic activity in the Northeast.

The quake was the second-strongest since the earthquakes and aftershocks began in the Mount Desert Island area on Sept. 22. Besides being felt in Bar Harbor and neighboring towns, the quake was reported being felt as far away as Lincoln and Waterville, which are more than 65 miles from Bar Harbor, according to the Weston Observatory.

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2006/12/30/earthquake_of_35_magnitude_recorded_in_bar_harbor/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News

[kestrel91316]

1. No surprise. 3.5s don't generally do any damage.

[NorthernSpy]

2. apparently, a new fault may be forming under the Gulf of Maine

They say the crust underlying the Atlantic may be expanding. This could lift our coastal range to its former height.


That earthquake back in October was pretty impressive, I thought. People in every county felt that one -- four-point-something on the Richter scale. Out West, a quake like that would not be felt over such a large area. But in the East, the earth's crust is highly resonant, and seismic shocks travel very widely.

At least, that's how I understand it.