LEWIS COUNTY, KY (WOWK) — The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says a minor earthquake happened in Lewis County, Kentucky.
The USGS says the 2.2 magnitude earthquake started Friday at 4:35 p.m. near location coordinates 38.425N, 83.378W.
According to the USGS, the earthquake’s epicenter was located:
- 12.4 miles south-southwest of Vanceburgm, Kentucky;
- 29.5 miles southwest of Portsmouth, Ohio;
- 36.2 miles west of Meads, Kentucky;
- 37.2 miles west of Ironville, Kentucky; and
- 82.5 miles east of Frankfort, Kentucky.
The earthquake ruptured at about 10.5 miles deep and traveled a minimum distance of 20.3 miles, the USGS says.
Six seismic stations detected a total of 11 P-wave and S-wave phases in the Earth’s mantle, according to the USGS.
Spencer Adkins, 13 News Chief Meteorologist, recently spoke with seismologists about why small tremors sometimes occur in the Appalachian region.
According to seismologists, the Appalachian mountains have faults that occasionally move. The ancient mountain range has slowly lowered in height due to ages-long weathering.
Seismologists say residents will typically not feel these small earthquakes caused by fault line shifts.
In addition, Lewis County 911 says it did not get calls about tremors or earthquake-related damages.
