More than 300 earthquakes have been recorded in the UK this year, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS). The most active regions included Perthshire and the western Highlands in Scotland, southern Wales, and Yorkshire and Lancashire in England.
The two strongest onshore quakes occurred on 20 October near Loch Lyon in Perth and Kinross: a magnitude 3.7 tremor followed by a 3.6 event, hours apart. The BGS received 198 felt reports, with one person describing it as “like an underground subway under my house”.
Overall, 34 of the 309 recorded quakes occurred near Loch Lyon between October and December. The third-largest onshore event was a magnitude 3.2 at Silverdale, Lancashire, on 3 December, felt by 700 people. Since 1931, the strongest UK earthquake remains the Dogger Bank quake of magnitude 6.1.
Dr Brian Baptie, a BGS seismologist, said the data shows earthquakes occurred in many parts of Great Britain over the past year. “It is a reminder that small earthquakes happen all the time and it remains of critical importance that they are studied to help us understand the possible impact of the rare large earthquakes on major energy and infrastructure projects around the country.”
The BGS operates a network of 80 monitoring stations. Baptie noted that the west of Scotland is one of the more active areas due to geological faults like the Great Glen fault and the Highland Boundary fault. He explained that present-day stresses can activate these faults, causing small earthquakes.
