It’s not known for being a hotspot for earthquakes.
But New Jersey has been rattled by more than 200 tremors in the past three months.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) detected a 2.2-magnitude tremor Wednesday at around 1:44am ET.
The aftershock was about seven miles from the epicenter of April’s earthquake, which was felt hundreds of miles away in major cities like New York City and Baltimore, Maryland.
It marks the 202nd earthquake since the major 4.8-magnitude hit the state on April 5 and shook skyscrapers across NYC’s famous skyline.
New Jersey was rattled by its 202nd aftershock since the major 4.8-magnitude hit the state in April
The hundreds of aftershocks are due to the rocks readjusting themselves following the major one in the spring.
‘Felt another earthquake at 1:45 am in New Jersey. Heard an explosion tsunami approaching the house, followed by my house rattling for 30 seconds,’ one New Jersian shared on X.
However, not all residents felt the ground shaking due to how minor it was.
An assessment from Michigan Tech University showed that people typically do not feel quakes with a magnitude of 2.5 or less.
Those from 2.5 to 5.4 are often felt but only cause minor damage.
And buildings and other structures can experience damage when a 5.5 to 6.0 strikes.
The USGS noted that aftershocks typically become less frequent with time, ‘ although they can continue for days, week, months or even years for a very large mainshock.’
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the April 5th earthquake was ‘one of the largest on the East Coast to occur in the last century.’
The last largest to hit New Jersey was a 5.3-magnitude in 1738.
People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Connecticut and other areas of the Northeast reported shaking. Tremors lasting for around 20 seconds were felt over 200 miles away near the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) detected a 2.2-magnitude tremor Wednesday at around 1:44am ET in Califon
The aftershock was about seven miles from the epicenter of April’s earthquake , which was felt hundreds of miles away in major cities like New York City and Baltimore, Maryland
Social media users have shared posts about the earthquake, also felt in New Jersey, Virginia and Philadelphia.
In a video from a New Jersey home, a dog sits up suddenly, seconds before the rooms shakes violently with belongings falling over.
And Boonton Coffee shared a video of their shop shaking before customers fled outside.
A barbershop camera caught the moment an earthquake shook the store a customer grabbed their young son lifted him into the air and carried him outside.
By April 15, there were at least 15 aftershocks detected in the state.
The ‘epicenter’ in Tewksbury sits on the Ramapo Fault, the longest system of cracks in the Northeast, which formed 400 million years ago – much older than California’s 28-million-year-old San Andreas.
A fault line is a place where there is a long break in the rock that forms the surface of the earth and where earthquakes are more likely to happen.
In a video on April 5 from a New Jersey home, a dog sits up suddenly, seconds before the rooms shakes violently with belongings falling over
The system spans from upstate New York, through New Jersey and down into Pennsylvania – and experts have long believed it has the potential to produce a major seismic event.
Kenneth Miller, a professor at Rutgers University, told DailyMail.com in a previous interview that the Ramapo Fault was created when continents first started pushing together hundreds of millions of years ago.
‘[The system] reactivated 200 million years ago, causing about four miles of movement,’ he explained.
‘It then stopped around 198 million years ago when the Atlantic Ocean formed.
The fault link continued with activity, but has since slowed down to minor movements.
‘A 6- to 7-maginitude earthquake is possible [for New Jersey], but seems very unlikely, said Miller, while explaining the Ramapo Fault line does not trigger anything above a magnitude 3 on average.
