Birmingham earthquake: what caused it? Is another one on the way?

Between 200 to 300 earthquakes occur annually in the UK, but to actually feel one is a rare occurrence.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) recorded last night’s earthquake in Walsall at 2.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale and at a depth of seven kilometres (4.35 miles).

The BGS said it received 90 reports of the tremor, recorded at 10.59pm, and this makes the Walsall earthquake a significant one in this country as only ten per cent of earthquakes are felt.

However, to put this into perspective, there were 6,000 reports of the quake which struck Dudley nearly 20 years ago and measured 4.7 magnitude.

BGS seismologist David Galloway told BirminghamWorld: “The Dudley earthquake was a major one for the UK, but last night’s in Walsall was much smaller.

“The difference between 4.7 and 2.8 on the Richter Scale is one being 100 times larger than the other. That is huge in terms of likelihood of damage and how many people will feel the earthquake.

“The Dudley quake was felt by most of England, but yesterday’s was limited to a 20km radius in and around the Walsall, West Bromwich and Birmingham areas. Most reports we received came from people living in Walsall.

“The two quakes in the region were only approximately 13km (eight miles) apart, but there is nothing in particular to read into that.”

What caused last night’s earthquake?

Mr Galloway added: “We live on a dynamic planet which is spread across tectonic plates that bang into each other regularly and this will sometimes result in an earthquake.

“Earthquakes will always be more common and cause much greater destruction at the edges of these plates, for example in Japan.

“Thankfully for people in the UK, we are a very long way away from the edges.

“There can also be tectonic uplift resulting from the melting of the ice sheets that covered many parts of Britain thousands of years ago.”

Can we expect any more earthquakes in the near future?

“There is no way of predicting when the next earthquake in a particular region or indeed country may be,” said Mr Galloway.

“There could be another significant one in the West Midlands tomorrow or it could be 20 years or more again.

“It’s a fascinating science. Thankfully there are no reports of any major damage from last night.”

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