Tremors in Loganville, But No Earthquake

Residents in and around the Forest Ridge subdivision on Highway 81 north, Loganville, Ga. were a little shaken, literally, on Wednesday. This was by ground tremors that were at about 10:45 a.m. While blasting from the Vulcan Rock quarry is often felt by the surrounding neighborhoods, many felt this was a little stronger than usual.

“We felt it also,” Joanna Aldridge wrote on the Loganville-Grayson Patch Facebook page. “I was wondering what it was.”

Being accustomed to blasting from the Vulcan Rock quarry in the past, several residents called the company to check. They were advised Vulcan had indeed been blasting at that time.

“I called Vulcan (Wednesday morning) to see if they had a schedule because this time it really freaked out our dogs,” wrote Bernadette Cooper. “The woman I spoke with said they were, indeed, blasting.”

Cooper said she was also told that, because of the economy, blasting was not as frequent.

A spokesperson from Vulcan confirmed that they really don’t have occasion to blast as often as they used to as a result of the economy – probably the reason some residents were surprised.  In fact, blasting was down quite significantly and is not yet showing any signs of improvement.

A call to the University of Georgia also confirmed that while there was some seismic activity in the United States on Wednesday, it was earlier in the day and had been out in Oklahoma.

Associate professor of Georlogy Robert Hawman said Georgia’s risk of earthquakes was relatively low, especially in this area.

“Now if you go into eastern Tennessee and South Carolina toward Charleston, it is much higher,” Hawman said. “In fact there was a very big quake in Charleston in the 1880s, but nobody really understands why that happened.”

An earthquake that shook was felt as far south as Loganville, with one resident even reporting that the effects of the seismic . Regular monitoring of worldwide seismic activity can be found on this map.

However, most tremors felt locally are more likely to be from the local quarry and many will be happy if that activity picks up. It’s likely to be as good a sign as any that the economy is finally picking up.