Scotland is hit by FOURTH earthquake: Magnitude 2.2 quake hits village overnight after three tremors rocked the Highlands
- The 2.2 magnitude earthquake hit just outside of Roybridge in the Highlands
- The tremor is the fourth quake to hit Scotland this week after three on Tuesday
- The British Geological Survey confirmed the quake in a tweet on Friday night
Scotland was rocked by a second earthquake in less than a week after the Highlands was hit by a tremor yesterday.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) reported a 2.2 magnitude earthquake just outside Roybridge, near Spean Bridge, registering on seismometers at 9.29pm at a depth of 7.5km.
The tremor is the latest in a spate of earthquakes to hit Scotland after it was hit by three earthquakes in the space of one night on November 16 including a 3.3 magnitude.
Rosemary Neagle, who lives on a farm in Kilmartin Glen near Lochgilphead, told the Express that noise of the tremor was so loud that she initially thought something had exploded in one of her sheds.
The quake in Roybridge on Friday follows a spate of tremors near to Lochgilphead on Tuesday
The latest tremor hit near to the picturesque Scottish Highlands town of Roybridge (pictured)
The BGS tweeted: ‘A small number of reports have been received by members of the public in the Roybridge area indicating they felt this event’.
Residents feeling the tremors on Tuesday in Lochgilphead described rumbles feeling ‘like a freight train’ running through their home.
The tremors were reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) just before 2am and more than 30 people reported feeling the shock to the agency.
Reports came from as far afield as Edinburgh and Northern Ireland.
The largest known Scottish earthquake occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2.
There are roughly 200-300 quakes in Britain every year, but the vast majority are so small that no one notices them. However between 20-30 are over 2.0 magnitude which can be felt over a wider area.
Roybridge is known for being home to the Glen Roy National Nature Reserve (pictured)
Earthquakes in Scotland are most often attributed to glacial rebound. Until about 10,500 years ago much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice – which pushed the rocks down into the underlying mantle.
These rocks have been slowly rising back up ever since the ice melted, causing occasional earthquakes in the process.
The UK is also subject to tectonic stresses caused by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean, which is slowly pushing the entire of Eurasia to the east, and from the northward motion of Africa, which is pushing into Europe from the south
The most damaging UK earthquake was in the Colchester area in 1884. Some 1,200 buildings needed repairs, chimneys collapsed and walls were cracked.
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