North Georgia has experienced three small earthquakes this week, including two overnight.
A 2.5-magnitude quake struck around 10:15 p.m. Thursday in Buford, just south of Lake Lanier, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Hours later, a 2.1-magnitude earthquake was reported a couple of miles southwest in Sugar Hill around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
No injuries were reported.
Earlier this week, a 2.2-magnitude earthquake hit at 3:49 p.m. Monday in Tunnel Hill in Catoosa County, according to the USGS. The small town is about a dozen miles from the Tennessee border and about 90 miles north of Atlanta.
More than three dozen earthquakes of 2.5 or greater magnitude have occurred in Georgia since 1974. The largest recorded in the state was a 4.1 about 30 miles from Atlanta in 1916.
More recently, the largest recorded in Georgia was a 3.9 in Metter in June 2022, according to earthquaketrack.com.
Georgia has a number of fault lines where most earthquakes occur. The Brevard Fault Line, the best-known one, runs from Blue Ridge to Marietta. The Soque River Fault follows the Sogue River in the northeast, and Salacoa Creek is in northwest Cherokee County.
The most active region is northwest Georgia, which sits in the Eastern Tennessee Seismic zone. The zone follows the western Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia south to the Alabama-Mississippi border, and it experiences about one magnitude 4.0 earthquake every five to 10 years, according to GEMA. At that level, the shaking could rattle small objects off shelves and cause cracks in plaster.
About the Author
