Cluster of earthquakes shake Lake Erie in Ohio

More than 200 earthquakes centered in Ohio have been recorded since 1776

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has reported the seventh earthquake in Lake Erie just this year.

A 2.4 magnitude earthquake was reported on Friday around three miles northwest of Timberlake, Ohio, taking place at 2.14pm at a depth of around four miles.

The seven quakes in Lake Erie this year have occurred between 4 January and 4 February and have ranged in magnitude from 1.6 to 2.8.

David Roorbach of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has previously told News 5 in Cleveland, Ohio that “seismic activity of 2.5 and above can generally be felt”.

“This is a known epicentre of natural earthquakes, due to the geologic history of the area,” he added. “Seismologists from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources continue to monitor the seismic activity.”

While Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake of the five Great Lakes by surface area, it holds the smallest amount of water.

It’s the shallowest of the lakes, but reaches a depth of more than 200 feet at one point. The recently registered earthquake activity has been focused around a shallow area in the lake, measuring around 40 feet in depth, according to the meteorology and earth science website weatherboy.

The series of quakes have been taking place about two miles offshore at around three miles below the surface. The US West has active fault zones, but Ohio only has ancient faults, otherwise known as magnetic faults, that can move on occasion.

According to USGS, an active fault is “a fault that is likely to have another earthquake sometime in the future. Faults are commonly considered to be active if they have moved one or more times in the last 10,000 years”.

An aerial view of people trapped near Catawba island after they got stranded by an ice break in Lake Erie, in Port Clinton, Ohio, United States February 6, 2022 (Island Air Taxi via Reuters)

USGS has said that it’s very rare of there to be damaging earthquakes in the area around Lake Erie, but that it’s possible.

The quakes currently being registered in the area could be aftershocks from a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that struck southeastern Michigan, northern Ohio, and parts of western Pennsylvania on 11 June 2019, weatherboy reported.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, more than 200 earthquakes centred in Ohio have been recorded since 1776, with most of the shakes hitting the same area that’s been affected over the last month.