Earthquakes

(asked on 14th July 2014) - View Source
Questioner
Portrait
Tom Greatrex
(Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many seismic events of (a) 0.0-0.5, (b) 0.5-1.0, (c) 1.0-1.5, (d) 1.5-2.0, (e) 2.0-2.5 and (f) 2.5-3.0 magnitude on the Richter scale were recorded in each month since June 2004.

Answered by
Greg Clark Portrait
Greg Clark
This question was answered on 21st July 2014

The UK’s national seismic network is operated by the British Geological Survey (BGS), a Research Centre of the Natural Environment Research Council. The network will detect almost all earthquakes of local magnitude 2 and above in the UK. The network does detect events with magnitude less than 2, but some will not be recorded as the ability to detect an event reliably diminishes with increasing distance from the closest seismometer stations. Seismic events in the UK since June 2004 are shown in Table 1 below. The BGS network detects around 100 earthquakes in the UK annually. Further information on seismic monitoring in the UK can be found at http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/.

TABLE 1. SEISMIC EVENTS SINCE JUNE 2004.

Count of ML

Richter local magnitude (ML)

Year

Month

0-0.4

0.5-0.9

1-1.4

1.5-1.9

2-2.4

2.5-2.9

3-3.4

3.5-3.9

4-4.4

4.5-4.9

5-5.4

Total

2004

Jun

1

2

2

3

8

Jul

2

5

1

1

9

Aug

1

2

1

2

6

Sep

1

1

1

3

Oct

1

2

1

1

5

Nov

6

7

7

3

3

2

28

Dec

3

5

2

1

1

12

2005

Jan

1

3

2

6

Feb

1

2

3

1

7

Mar

1

1

1

2

5

Apr

2

1

2

1

1

7

May

8

5

2

2

17

Jun

2

3

1

1

1

1

9

Jul

3

2

1

1

7

Aug

1

3

2

3

2

2

13

Sep

3

3

3

1

1

1

12

Oct

2

4

6

Nov

3

2

5

2

12

Dec

1

2

1

3

2

1

10

2006

Jan

2

2

2

6

Feb

4

1

5

Mar

1

1

6

1

1

10

Apr

2

1

3

May

1

1

2

Jun

1

1

2

1

5

Jul

1

3

4

Aug

2

2

1

5

Sep

2

2

4

Oct

1

5

1

1

8

Nov

2

1

1

4

Dec

1

1

3

1

1

1

8

2007

Jan

1

1

1

1

1

5

Feb

1

2

1

4

Mar

7

8

3

1

19

Apr

3

8

3

1

15

May

1

4

1

1

7

Jun

1

2

1

1

5

Jul

1

5

4

1

2

2

15

Aug

3

4

3

2

12

Sep

3

1

1

2

7

Oct

3

2

3

1

2

11

Nov

2

3

2

1

8

Dec

1

1

1

3

2008

Jan

3

3

1

1

8

Feb

2

2

2

3

1

10

Mar

3

1

1

2

7

Apr

2

1

1

4

May

1

3

2

3

2

11

Jun

1

2

2

2

7

Jul

1

6

7

2

16

Aug

1

3

7

1

1

13

Sep

6

1

1

1

9

Oct

2

3

5

Nov

1

1

1

3

Dec

3

5

1

9

2009

Jan

1

5

2

1

9

Feb

3

2

1

6

Mar

2

2

1

5

Apr

2

1

1

1

1

1

7

May

2

2

4

Jun

2

6

1

9

Jul

2

4

1

4

11

Aug

1

2

3

2

1

9

Sep

3

1

1

1

6

Oct

1

1

1

1

4

Nov

2

2

Dec

1

2

5

6

14

2010

Jan

2

2

6

10

Feb

2

3

3

1

9

Mar

1

1

2

1

5

Apr

3

1

1

5

May

2

5

1

8

Jun

1

1

2

3

2

9

Jul

3

3

1

1

8

Aug

1

7

8

Sep

1

4

3

2

1

1

12

Oct

1

3

3

7

Nov

1

2

1

1

5

Dec

2

2

1

2

1

1

3

12

2011

Jan

1

3

2

1

2

2

11

Feb

3

1

1

2

7

Mar

4

4

5

1

2

16

Apr

4

4

2

2

1

13

May

2

2

2

3

2

11

Jun

2

1

3

Jul

2

3

1

2

8

Aug

6

2

1

3

1

13

Sep

1

2

2

1

6

Oct

5

3

2

1

1

12

Nov

4

1

5

Dec

2

2

2

6

2012

Jan

2

2

3

1

1

9

Feb

1

4

4

2

4

15

Mar

1

5

2

1

1

10

Apr

1

1

4

3

2

11

May

1

3

4

1

9

Jun

3

5

4

1

1

14

Jul

3

2

1

1

7

Aug

1

1

2

4

Sep

2

6

1

9

Oct

3

3

1

1

8

Nov

2

3

1

6

Dec

5

3

1

2

11

2013

Jan

2

3

1

2

8

Feb

3

6

5

6

1

21

Mar

1

2

1

2

4

1

3

14

Apr

6

7

13

May

3

7

3

2

1

16

Jun

1

4

5

2

1

13

Jul

4

4

1

2

1

12

Aug

1

2

1

1

3

1

9

Sep

4

5

3

1

13

Oct

5

2

1

1

9

Nov

1

1

2

Dec

6

9

7

1

1

24

2014

Jan

2

14

15

3

2

1

37

Feb

19

10

1

1

1

32

Mar

4

9

16

1

1

31

Apr

3

7

4

1

1

1

17

May

5

5

2

1

13

Jun

3

7

4

2

16

Jul

1

1

1

3

Grand Total

40

148

374

311

148

78

36

25

6

3

1

1170

Reticulating Splines