Edinburgh rattled by earthquake as Capital feels tremors

Residents of Edinburgh felt tremors following an earthquake in western Scotland received in the early hours of Tuesday.

A quake with a magnitude of 3.1 occurred just before 2am with its epicentre some 11 miles north-west of the town of Lochgilphead, 88 miles north-west of Glasgow, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

More than 50 people reported to the USGS that they had felt the tremor, with reports coming from the nation’s capital.

The agency said the quake happened 10km below the Earth's surface.

Data from the British Geological Survey shows between 200 and 300 earthquakes are detected in the UK every year, with tremors of between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude occurring on the mainland once every three years on average.

In August of 2017, Scotland experienced its biggest earthquake in years, which had a magnitude of 4.1. It occurred in Moidart, but was felt widely across the northwest of Scotland.

A message from the Editor:

The epicentre of the earthquake was located some 11 miles north-west of the town of Lochgilphead, however, tremors were felt as far as Edinburgh and Ballycastle, North Ireland.

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