Early yesterday morning, residents of a Western North Carolina city experienced a pair of earth tremors as two earthquakes struck near Marion. The first earthquake, registering at a 2.2 magnitude, occurred just before 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 24, with the second following at a magnitude of 2.1 around 5 hours later, just after 6:30 a.m. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) referenced by WBTV, the epicenters were located off Bungalow Drive, near the Catawba River.
Despite the proximity of these tremors in time, the USGS has noted that such events are commonplace globally, with approximately one million earthquakes of similar size occurring annually. These smaller earthquakes often go unnoticed as they usually do not cause damage or significant impact. Residents near Marion did report feeling the shakes, which the USGS compares to the vibrations felt from a passing truck. While there's no immediate concern for significant structural damage, the events are a reminder of the ancient tectonic activity that has shaped the region's geography. An earthquake had also rattled the area on Sunday, Oct. 19, north of Lake Toxaway, as reported by WBTV.
The impact of these tremors ranged beyond Marion, with reports of felt shaking extending 48 miles east to Taylorsville, as mentioned by The Spokesman. The quakes, though modest in intensity, were felt due to geological conditions that enhance their effect. "Soft, loose soil will shake more intensely than hard rock at the same distance from the same earthquake," according to the USGS. The organization further explains that "the looser and thicker the soil is, the greater the energy movement will be."
Western North Carolina's mountainous terrain is the remnant of ancient geologic forces. The region is "littered with many ancient faults that are no longer active," but remains under compression, which occasionally leads to minor quakes due to slips along these old fault lines. Marion, located about a 100-mile drive northwest from Charlotte, had not experienced quakes in recent history, with a search of USGS records dating back to 2000 showing no other events in the past 25 years, as detailed by The Spokesman.
As confirmed by analysis from the USGS and reported by CBS 17, the depth of the earlier quake was more than six miles, underlining the hidden depth of the region's seismic activity.
