Jerry Smith, The News Journal
A small earthquake described by a U.S. Geological Survey spokesperson as an aftershock occurred Tuesday night in the Delaware Bay near Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
The aftershock hit near the location of a 4.1 magnitude earthquake that shook Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region on Nov. 30.
Tuesday's 1.2 magnitude aftershock happened at 7:45 p.m. just 7 miles northeast of Dover Air Force Base just off Port Mahon near the Delaware Bay, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
John Bellini, a geophysicist with the survey's National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colorado, said that the aftershock could have occurred in the exact location, but because of its size, it was hard to pinpoint.
There were no reports of damage from the Nov. 30 quake, but the USGS said it received more than 6,500 responses within an hour of the temblor from people who felt it throughout the Mid-Atlantic — as far south as suburban Washington, D.C., and as far north as the Poughkeepsie, New York, area.
Bellini said Tuesday's aftershock is unusual because of the smaller size of the Nov. 30 earthquake.
"You don't usually get a lot of aftershocks from a quake that size, but they can occur up to two weeks after," he said. "Aftershocks are usually felt more often and for a longer period of time with larger earthquakes."
Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ.
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