A mini earthquake gently rocked the shores of Donegal in the wee hours of yesterday morning, reminding us that the Emerald Isle isn’t always as steady as we might think.
The pint-sized quake, measuring a mere 0.9 on the Richter scale, was detected off Culdaff Bay near the Inishowen Peninsula at about 1:18 am. While most residents were likely snoozing peacefully in their beds, unaware of the earth’s subtle shimmy, sensitive equipment at St Columba’s College in Stranorlar picked up on the ground’s tiny dance.
Brendan O’Donoghue, a physics teacher at the college, heads up a project that’s part of the global Seismology in Schools initiative. Over the past 15 years, the school has become a bit of a tremor-tracking superstar, logging over 1,000 of these subterranean shakes.
But don’t worry, folks – there’s no need to batten down the hatches just yet. Donegal may be Ireland’s secret seismic hotspot, but most of its quakes are so small you’d have a better chance of feeling a fly land on your nose.
According to The Journal, The Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and the British Geology Survey’s Seismology team also caught wind of this latest earth hiccup. They remind us that while Donegal might lead the pack in Irish quakes, even its biggest recorded onshore rumble was only a 2.5 magnitude affair back in January 2012.
So, the next time you’re in Donegal and feel a bit wobbly, don’t be too quick to blame the Guinness – it might just be the ground beneath your feet having a little jig.