THE Muswellbrook Shire experienced its fifth earthquake, and second significant one, in the past three days at the weekend.
At 7.51am on Saturday, a 3.4 magnitude quake was registered near Denman.
It was quickly followed up by another, which recorded 2.7.
The 3.4 “event” on Saturday was the strongest EPSO (Edward Pigot Seismic Observatory) ground motion logged since April, 2014.
“The recent shakes have been recorded by a seismic observatory in Coonabarabran, located about 200km north-west from Muswellbrook,” EPSO’s Michael Andre Phillips said.
“I'm sure the residents will be asking themselves if these are a precursor to something larger.
“It’s very unlikely, but not impossible.
“There’s a bit of a swarm brewing, most very shallow and physically on mine property.”
On Thursday, a 3.4 magnitude quake – at a depth of three kilometres – was chronicled by Geoscience Australia.
However, that wasn’t the end of the tremors.
Two more, at 2.7 and 2.9, were monitored soon afterwards.
In June, 2017, residents reported two earthquakes over the same weekend in the shire.
And, a further 2.3 magnitude quake hit the area in September that year as well.
Anyone who feels an earthquake is asked to fill out a public report at online here.
This article first appeared in the Muswellbrook Chronicle
