(OPINION) The Earth is trembling underneath Lake Erie. Nine weak, shallow earthquakes have already struck central Lake Erie in the first weeks of 2022, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which, alongside the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), tracks seismic activity in the region.
The quake epicenters are clustered about two miles offshore of Lake County east of Cleveland. They range from 1.3 to 3.0 in magnitude and some are being felt locally on shore. Quake depths range from 2.1 to 7.4 kilometers under the surface.
The most recent quake was a 2.4 magnitude on Feb. 4. Ohio DNR seismologist Jeff Fox said quakes are occurring along a fault that produced a larger, 4.0 magnitude quake in June 2019 which was felt as far away as Michigan. Fox speculated the recent cluster may be aftershocks.
“All these earthquakes are happening right in the same spot, so we’re pretty sure they’re on the same fault,” Fox told WKYC in Ohio. “It could be the activity is just migrating along the fault, or it could be remnant aftershock activity from that larger earthquake two years ago.”
Ohio has more seismic monitors in the area than USGS, which lists seven offshore quakes in Lake Erie thus far this year. Minor seismic activity is fairly common in northeast Ohio, which sits atop ancient fault lines in subsurface Precambrian Age rock.
More than 300 earthquakes of 2.0 magnitude or greater with epicenters in the state have occurred since 1776, according to Ohio DNR. The largest was a 5.0 quake that struck Lake County on Jan. 31, 1986. READ MORE
