Earthquakes

 NY Times - A 2.7- magnitude earthquake hit northern New Jersey on Tuesday, just days after a 3.0-magnitude quake struck the same area on Saturday, shaking parts of the state and New York City.  The recent temblors were classified as “weak,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Mercalli Intensity Scale. Still, they were a shock to New Yorkers and New Jerseyans generally unused to the earth shaking beneath them....

Since 1900, there have been 355 earthquakes in the New Jersey area with a magnitude of 1.0 and above, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In those 125 years, only 20 earthquakes have had a magnitude of 3.0 and above that people can actually feel.

But the two recent quakes are not surprising, given a larger 4.8- magnitude earthquake last year that jolted New York and New Jersey and sent tremors from Philadelphia to Boston. Andrew Lloyd, an assistant research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, said that the two earthquakes could be aftershocks from that bigger one.

And it’s likely, researchers say, that the earthquake that occurred Tuesday was triggered by Saturday’s event.