A small earthquake was recorded in Rhode Island around 11:30 Thursday night.
The 1.8 magnitude quake happened just south of Jamestown, according to the United States Geological Survey.
University of Rhode Island geosciences professor Brian Savage says although they’re rare, earthquakes do happen in the northeast.
“The whole east coast is built up of large-scale mountain ranges, large faults, and huge folds,” Savage said. “All have been created from plate tectonic forces. There is still some strain within the crust and within the plates of the earth. Sometimes that just gets released as earthquakes.”
Because it was a small quake, Savage says only a handful of Rhode Islanders actually felt it.
“Most of the people that felt it were in the southern part of the state,” Savage said. “There were some people that felt it in the Providence area.”
Savage says it’s not likely that the state will feel aftershocks from the quake.
The last time an earthquake was felt in Rhode Island was April of 2024 when a 4-point-8 magnitude quake struck in the center of New Jersey.
