A minor earthquake occurred yesterday 10 miles south of Bangor rated at magnitude 3.0 according to the USGS. Most earthquakes occur along active fault lines, however we do not live near an active fault line. What we do know is that Maine lies on the North American tectonic plate and the nearest fault line lies well off shore, by several hundreds of miles in the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, not much is still understood about seismic activity in the Northeast because it is a fairly inactive region.

Despite the rumblings so close to Bangor, the city itself did not shake because of a layer of granite that lies underneath the ground. The granite helped to absorb the shock, so the only areas that felt the earth move was right around the immediate epicenter.

Earthquakes happen all the time, but the most activity does lie along fault lines, such as the San Andreas Fault, near California.

If you would like to check out the stats on the quake that occurred yesterday click here.

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