CORRECTION: This post initially indicated the earthquake near Wilmore occurred Sunday night. It actually took place late Saturday night.
Citizens in central and southeast Kentucky started the week with two separate earthquakes. One occurred near Wilmore Saturday evening and the other north of Pineville Monday morning. Both quakes registered 2.7 on the Richter scale, but both caused little stirring above ground.
State Geologist Bill Haneberg says earthquakes are a frequent occurrence across Kentucky and there’s no reason to think anything bigger is coming soon. “We actually had back before Christmas just outside of Lexington two earthquakes on back to back days, but they were magnitude 0.6 and 0.9. So, sometimes you have a couple of earthquakes happen, but there’s no reason to believe that it’s anything significant,” said Haneberg. “These aren’t fore shocks leading up to something large.”
Haneberg says it is a little unusual to have two of magnitude 2.7 within a couple of days. He says it would typically take an earthquake of about magnitude six to see any ground rupture on the surface.
Coincidentally, a 2.7 magnitude earthquake was also reported this morning (yesterday morning/Monday) not far from New Madrid, Missouri. Portions of West Kentucky sit along the New Madrid fault.
