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2023-12-10, M1.3, Donegal

At 06:48:00 UTC on the 10th of December 2023 an M1.3 earthquake occurred on the Fanad peninsula in northern Co. Donegal, Ireland. The earthquake occurred at a depth of approximately 5 km, and the epicentre was approximately 5 km east of Kerrykeel (see map below). The Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) operated by DIAS has received several reports that the earthquake was experienced by members of the public near Kerrykeel, whereby most stated that they heard a loud, thunder-like noise. The Fanad peninsula experiences regular seismic activity; the most recent earthquake to occur near Kerrykeel was M1.4 in August 2017, and the largest earthquake on the Fanad peninsula was M2.4 in January 2012.

The map below shows the location of felt reports from the public.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2023-05-10, M2.4, Goban Spur, North Atlantic

On the 10th of May 2023 at 16:21:53 UTC, a magnitude M2.4 earthquake occurred near the Goban Spur, in the Porcupine region of the North Atlantic ocean, locating approximately 350km south-south-west off the coast of Kerry. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km. The location of the epicentre is indicated with a red circle in the map below. While earthquakes are known to occur in this region, it is not often that they are detected. As almost all seismometers are land-based, only larger magnitude events (M > 2) are seen from this region. Several earthquakes of similar magnitudes (between M2.0 and M4.4) have been detected in this region since 1980. Previously, the most recent earthquake detected from this area occurred on 2022-03-10 (M3.4, in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain), and the largest earthquake detected (since 1980) in the Porcupine region was M4.4, occurring on the 17th of February 1980.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2023-03-04, M3.0, Rockall Plateau

On the 4th of March 2023 at 03:45 UTC a magnitude M3.0 earthquake occurred in the Rockall Plateau in the North Atlantic, approximately 600km northwest of Donegal. The earthquake located with a depth of 10 km. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with red lines. While earthquakes in the Rockall Trough are regularly detected by the INSN, only one previous event has been detected from the Rockall Plateau – a M3.5 earthquake from the 10th of January 2016. As the nearest land-based seismometers are 500km from the Rockall Plateau, only larger magnitude (M2.5+) events are expected to be detected from this region. Earthquakes with magnitudes up to M4 are known to occur in the Rockall Trough.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-08-12, M2.5, Celtic Sea

On the 12th of August 2022 at 00:30 UTC a magnitude M2.5 earthquake occurred in the Celtic Sea, approximately 200km south of Mizen Head, Co Cork. The earthquake located with a depth of 10 km. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with black lines. While earthquakes are known to occur in this region, it is not often that they are detected. As almost all seismometers are land-based, only larger magnitude events (M > 2) are seen from this region. The most recent earthquake detected in the Celtic Sea was M2.5, occurring on the 13th of July 2022, and the largest earthquake detected (since 1980) in the Celtic Sea was M2.9, occurring on the 27th of May 2019.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-07-26, M0.3, Offshore Wexford

On the 26th of July 2022 at 23:33 UTC a magnitude M0.3 earthquake occurred offshore Wexford, locating approximately 12km east of Wexford town, at a depth of 3 km. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with black lines. This is the first Irish earthquake to be located using data from the recently installed underground seismic station at Mitchelstown Caves (IMIC). Earthquakes are regularly detected within county Wexford and the surrounding offshore regions. The largest earthquake detected in this area was M2.4, occurring on the 18th of March 2014 and locating 6km offshore Raven Point, Co. Wexford.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-07-25, M0.9, Donegal

On the 25th of July 2022 at 02:35 UTC a magnitude M0.9 earthquake occurred in northern Donegal, locating 12km northeast of Letterkenny, approximately 1 km beneath Lough Swilly. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with black lines. Earthquakes with magnitudes up to M2.5 are commonly detected in Donegal; the most recent earthquake detected in this region was M0.6 on the 22nd of June. The largest onshore Irish earthquake recorded by the INSN was M2.5, occurring on the 26th of January 2012 on the Fanad Peninsula in Donegal .

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-07-19, M2.1, North Atlantic

On the 19th of July 2022 at 03:06 UTC a magnitude M2.1 earthquake occurred in the North Atlantic, approximately 190km north of Donegal, locating along the edge of the Rockall Trough, 80km east of the Hebrides Terrace Seamount. The earthquake located with a depth of 6 km. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with black lines. The most recent detected earthquakes in this region were M2.6 and M2.3 respectively, occurring on the 31st of March 2020 at the Hebrides Terrace Seamount. Earthquakes with magnitudes up to M4.0 have been detected in this region regularly since 1980.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-04-17, M2.5, North Atlantic

On the 17th of April 2022 at 18:48 UTC a magnitude M2.5 earthquake occurred in the North Atlantic, approximately 90km NW of Donegal, locating south of the Rockall Trough. The earthquake located with a depth of 10 km. In the map below the epicentre of the earthquake is indicated with a red marker. Major fault zones in and around Ireland are shown with black lines. The most recent detected earthquake at this location was M0.7, occurring on the 6th of March 2022. Further to the north in the Rockall Trough, earthquakes with magnitudes up to M4.0 have been detected regularly since 1980.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

2022-03-21, M5.2, North Sea

On the 21st of March 2022 at 06:32 UTC a magnitude M5.2 earthquake occurred in the North Sea, approximately 205 km WNW of Bergen, Norway. The earthquake located with a depth of 10 km and was reported felt from the western parts of southern Norway. The earthquake location is indicated by the red circle in the map below. The North Sea has low to intermediate seismicity with the majority of it occurring along the Norwegian coastline. Events are generally below M3 however a similar magnitude event was recorded in the same region on the 24th January 1927.

The event was recorded by seismic stations worldwide, including stations in the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) (see figure below). The first seismic waves originating from the North Sea earthquake arrived in Ireland ~2 minutes after the event origin.

For more information on the North Sea earthquake please see these links:

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000h6bi/executive

https://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=1109087

https://nnsn.geo.uib.no/nnsn/#/news

2022-03-10, M3.4, North Atlantic

On the 10th of March 2022 at 10:57 UTC a magnitude M3.4 earthquake occurred in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the North Atlantic. The earthquake located with a depth of 15 km and is indicated by the red circle in the map below. While earthquakes are known to occur in this region, it is not often that they are detected. As almost all seismometers are land-based, only larger magnitude events (M > 2) are seen from this region. The previous two earthquakes from this area were detected in 2020 and 2015 (M2.5 and M2.4), and the largest earthquake detected (since 1980) in the Porcupine region was M4.4, occurring on the 17th of February 1980.

The event was recorded by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and can be seen in the waveforms plotted below:

Past Seismograms
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Live Seismograms
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DSB - Dublin
VAL - Kerry

Past Spectrograms
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Live Spectrograms
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ITIP - N. Tipperary
IMAY - Mayo