Two Earthquakes Hit a North Carolina Mountain Town Hours Apart

Most people picture California or the Pacific Northwest when they think about earthquakes. But western North Carolina has been quietly racking up seismic activity, and a recent pair of quakes that rattled the mountain town of Marion within hours of each other is a good reminder that the East Coast is not as geologically quiet as many assume.

What Happened in Marion

Two earthquakes struck near Marion, North Carolina, in McDowell County within roughly five hours of each other. The first registered at magnitude 2.2 just after midnight, centered about two miles north of downtown Marion near the Catawba River at a depth of about six miles. The second, a magnitude 2.1, struck the same general area around 5:35 in the morning at a shallower depth of about two miles.

Neither quake caused any reported damage. According to the USGS, earthquakes with magnitudes below 2.5 are typically not felt by most people. These came close enough to the surface and were shallow enough that some residents did notice them. Reports of shaking came in from as far as 48 miles away in Taylorsville. Most described the sensation as Category III intensity on the intensity scale, roughly equivalent to the vibration of a passing truck or heavy vehicle.

A search of USGS records going back 25 years showed Marion had no recorded earthquakes in that entire period before this cluster of activity, making the pair of quakes notable even at relatively minor magnitudes.