Navy Testing Likely Cause Of Daytona Beach "Earthquake"
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DAYTONA BEACH (CBSMiami/AP) -- It looks like Mother Nature gets a pass on a 3.7 magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of Florida.
The tremor was most likely triggered by a man-made explosion used to test the seaworthiness of a new Navy ship, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
The center of Saturday's quake was approximately 168 nautical miles northeast of Daytona Beach Shores.
A similar 3.7 magnitude "earthquake" occurred last month off Ormond-by-the-Sea about the same time the Navy reported conducting a shock trial during testing of the USS Jackson.
The Navy has confirmed that another shock trial would be conducted between July 16 and July 20.
Earthquakes in Florida are rare and those that cause damage are almost nonexistent. According to the USGS, two earthquakes that struck 10 minutes apart in January 1879 knocked plaster from walls in St. Augustine and were felt as far away as Tampa on the Gulf coast.
Earthquakes of less than magnitude 5.4 rarely cause damage. The USGS says there are about 930,000 such quakes recorded worldwide each year or about 2,500 per day.
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