The Times (Trenton, N.J.) (pg. A1)  [Printer-friendly version]
February 17, 2009

INTENSE SHAKING MARKED 'SHALLOW' MORRIS QUAKE

Expert: That makes tremor more easily felt

By Philip Read

The 2.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Morris County on Saturday
afternoon was a "shallow event" more easily felt in New Jersey than a
quake of similar size in California, a seismologist said yesterday.

"It means the intensity of shaking is much larger. That's a difference
between here and California. In California, very few people would feel
it," said Won-Young Kim, senior research scientist at the Lamont-
Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.

Saturday's quake, centered about three miles north-northeast of
Boonton, struck at 5:22 p.m. and was enough to set off about 20 calls
to 911 and as many as 70 others in nearby Montville alone. It came 13
days after a stronger 3.0 tremor struck towns around Morristown.

The latest jolt was clearly felt by Montville police Lt. Rudy
Appelmann, who also serves as the town's emergency management
coordinator.

"At first, I thought the sally-port was hit," he said of the
downstairs garage. "It almost felt like somebody backing into the
building. You felt a bump."

Then, he said, the calls began coming in.

"The initial reports came in as an explosion or some sort of loud
bang," he said.

There were no reports of structural damage and there have been no
reported aftershocks.

The almost back-to-back jolts, though centered several miles apart,
are worth watching, experts say.

"Two earthquakes of considerable size, in two weeks, that is unusual,"
Kim said. "This is still higher than normal.

Saturday's quake was about 2 kilometers, or 1.2 miles, deep, in a
"zone of weakness" along "the trace of the Ramapo fault," Kim said.

"The orientation of the break is not necessarily along the fault
itself," he said.

The last big tremor in New Jersey was a 5.5 magnitude in 1884, though
on a scale of 1 to 8, with eight considered a "great" quake, it is
actually deemed moderate. The 1884 tremor toppled chimneys in New York
City and New Jersey and cracked masonry as far away as Hartford,
Conn., and West Chester, Pa., according to the United States
Geological Survey.

Newhouse News Service contributor Philip Read may be reached at
pread@starledger.com or (973) 392-1851.

Copyright, 2009, The Times, Trenton N.J.