Mild earthquake hits UK with epicenter at Tean, no casualty

Mild tremors of the earthquake hit Staffordshire and its adjoining areas Wednesday evening. People living in as far areas as Yorkshire felt the rumblings and reported these on social media platforms. Confirming the earthquake, the British Geological Survey said that the epicenter was 7.3 kilometers or 4.5 miles below Tean.

The BGS has said that the ‘people felt an initial rumbling followed by a bang.’ People in Sheffield, about, 67 kilometers away from the epicenter of Team felt the tremors in High Storrs, while people in Ranmoor felt a ‘slight rumble’.

SEISMIC ALERT: TEAN, STAFFORDSHIRE 28 JUNE 2023 20:21 UTC 3.3 ML

ORIGIN TIME: 20:21 14.1s UTC

LAT/LONG: 52.922° North / 1.950° West

GRID REF: 403.4 kmE / 336.1 kmN

DEPTH: 7.3 km

MAGNITUDE: 3.3 ML

LOCALITY: Tean, Staffordshire

INTENSITY: 3 EMS pic.twitter.com/S3ihZN9w5R

— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) June 28, 2023

It said in a tweet,

“BGS has received several reports from residents throughout the region, mainly from within around 20km of the epicenter. Reports described "an initial rumbling then a bang", "felt more like a shunt like something had hit something " and "the windows and doors all rattled."

British Geological Survey

The BGS records annually 200-300 earthquakes in the UK. The most devastating earthquake recorded in the UK was felt in the North Sea on June 7, 1931. It was recorded at 6.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was in the Dogger Bank area in Norfolk. As many as 20 earthquakes have been recorded in the UK in the last two months, but all of these have been mild, causing no casualty.

The Earth’s surface is made of huge solid plates of rocks, called tectonic plates. These tectonic plates float on soft rock called mantle which makes the core of the Earth. These tectonic plates keep moving and the area where they meet is called fault lines. When the tectonic plates rub against each other, energy is released which comes to the surface creating tremors.

FAQs:

Q1:What was the strength and epicenter of the earthquake that hit the UK?
The British Geological Survey said that the tremors with a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale have been recorded with the epicenter 7.3 kilometers or 4.5 miles below Tean.

Q2:Where and when was the strongest earthquake recorded in the UK?
The strongest earthquake recorded in the UK occurred on Jun3 7, 1931 in the Dogger area in Norfolk.