Experts explain the northeastern earthquake, what’s next for western Mass

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Friday morning’s earthquake, centered in New Jersey, was just strong enough to be felt here in western Mass.

We got answers from a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey on exactly how powerful it was in our area, as well as the impact it had locally on people and their pets.

For several seconds Friday morning, the ground underneath western Mass shook, not enough to cause any real damage, but enough to make people like Corrine Shartran of Blandford wonder.

“The dog was looking at me like ‘what the heck was that,’ I’m like, ‘oh my God that was an earthquake.’”

It certainly was.

Centered in northern New Jersey, the U.S. Geological Survey said the initial 4.8 magnitude quake occurred near the township of Whitehouse at 10:23 on Friday morning.

As Tim Clements, a research geophysicist at the USGS explained, the shockwaves quickly traveled up the East Coast because of the composition and age of the crust underneath this part of the country.

Clements said, “The upper few miles of the crust on the East Coast is much older, about 200 million years older on the East Coast than on the West Coast. So, an earthquake of similar size will travel, will be felt in a much wider area in the East Coast than, say, it would in California. We actually had the most felt reports for this earthquake of any earthquake we’ve had since we’ve been reporting online.

While the brief shaking wasn’t very strong locally – it was enough to surprise many of us here in western Mass.

Our newsroom was flooded with calls from people across the area, wondering what just happened.

Corrinne Shartrand recalled, “All of a sudden, things started to shake and at first I thought it was a helicopter then I’m like, ‘noooo, it’s not.’ Things started falling off the fireplace mantle, I got up and I’m looking around and there’s no helicopter, so, I go outside and nothing. My horses are running around and I’m like, very suspicious.”

As for what’s in store for western Mass due to more shaking in the near future-- more than likely, nothing.

By Friday evening, the USGS reported 10 less powerful aftershocks out of New Jersey, including the largest measuring 4.0 magnitude.

Clements claimed that’s nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing we’ll feel this far north, explaining, “The highest rate of aftershocks should be right after the earthquake occurs and then we should expect smaller earthquakes over the next few days or weeks, and then you could have one-off earthquakes over the next few months or maybe a year.”