Earthquake that rocked NYC was caused by little-known 185-mile fault line in ... trends now
Deep in the ground of northwestern New Jersey is a stretch of a 185-mile-long fault, which triggered the 4.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked New York City Friday, experts told DailyMail.com.
The ‘epicenter’ sits on the Ramapo Fault, the longest system of cracks in the Northeast, which formed 400 million years ago - much older than California's 28-million-year-old San Andreas.
But the fault also triggered a small quake near the epicenter last month.
The system spans from upstate New York, through New Jersey and down into Pennsylvania - and experts have long believed it has the potential to produce a major seismic event.
Kenneth Miller, a professor at Rutgers University, confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Ramapo Fault was 'certainly what caused Friday's earthquake,' while nothing that a 6-to 7-maginitude quake would have been devastating to the northeast.
The ‘epicenter’ of Friday’s quake sits on the Ramapo Fault, the longest system of cracks in the Northeast, which formed 400 million years ago - much older than California's 28-million-year-old San Andreas
'A 6- to 7-maginitude earthquake is possible, but seems very unlikely, said Miller, while explaining the Ramapo Fault line does not trigger anything above a magnitude 3 on average.
The system, however, produced a rare interior-related seismic event, which account for less than 10 percent of the natural disasters that hit our planet each year.
An intraplate earthquake occurs within the interior of the tectonic plate, while a most other strike on the boundary of the tectonic plate.
'The earthquake was rated as a 4.7 or 4.8 by the United States
