Scotland hit by second earthquake in a week with locals reporting 'big banging' noise
20 November 2021, 10:01 | Updated: 20 November 2021, 18:25
Scotland has been hit by its second earthquake in less than a week, with locals reportedly saying they heard "big banging" noises and felt the tremor on Friday evening.
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The British Geological Survey (BGS) reported a 2.2 magnitude earthquake just outside Roybridge, near Spean Bridge, registering on seismometers at 9.29pm.
The organisation said it had a depth of 7.5km, with a spokesperson adding: "A small number of reports have been received by members of the public in the Roybridge area indicating they felt this event."
A small number of reports have been received by members of the public in the Roybridge area indicating they felt this event.
— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) November 19, 2021
Friday's quake was the latest night-time tremor to hit the country, following a slightly larger earthquake on Tuesday just before 2am.
The 3.1 magnitude quake, reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), had an epicentre some 11 miles north-west of the town of Lochgilphead, 88 miles north-west of Glasgow.
More than 30 people - some as far away as Edinburgh and Ballycastle in Northern Ireland - reported to the USGS that they had felt it.
Tuesday's quake happened 10km below the Earth's surface.
Read more: Scotland earthquake: 3.1 magnitude tremor strikes in middle of night
Data from the BGS shows between 200 and 300 earthquakes are detected in the UK every year, although most are too small to be felt.
Tremors of between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude occur on the mainland once every three years on average.
Glenn Ford, the BGS seismic analyst on call at the time of the tremor, said the latest quake was "quite unusual" because people could actually feel it.
"In UK terms, because we are a very low seismic area, we only perhaps get about 15 earthquakes a year of this size or greater, so it's quite unusual in that respect," he said.
"We get about two to three hundred earthquakes every year somewhere in the United Kingdom area, so the fact that this one was actually felt was unusual because approximately 90 per cent of them are so small nobody actually perceives them."
