An earthquake struck the East Coast of the United States on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, causing buildings to shake and rattling nerves from Baltimore north to Boston.
DIVE DEEPER: An earthquake centered near New York City rattles, and unnerves, much of the Northeast
Recommended Videos
The USGS tentatively measured the quake as a 4.8 temblor near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. It struck a little before 10:30 a.m. ET.
People from Baltimore to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border reported feeling the ground shake. While there were no immediate reports of serious damage, officials were checking bridges and other major infrastructure, Amtrak slowed trains throughout the busy Northeast Corridor, and a Philadelphia-area commuter rail line suspended service out of what it said was “an abundance of caution.”
Earthquakes are less common on the eastern than western edges of the U.S. because the East Coast does not lie on a boundary of tectonic plates. The biggest Eastern quakes usually occur along the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which extends through Iceland and the Atlantic Ocean.
Quakes on the East Coast can still pack a punch, as its rocks are better than their western counterparts at spreading earthquake energy across far distances.
“If we had the same magnitude quake in California, it probably wouldn’t be felt nearly as far away,” said USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso.
A 4.8-magnitude quake isn’t large enough to cause damage, except for some minor effects near the epicenter, the agency posted on X.