UK rocked by DOUBLE earthquake as tremors shake Scottish Highlands just hours apart from each other – The Sunthedigitalchaps

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THE UK has been rocked by a DOUBLE earthquake as tremors shake the ground.

The Scottish Highlands has been hit twice in the space of nine hours.

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Scotland has been struck by two earthquakesCredit: Alamy

Morvern was first struck at 12.18pm on Wednesday night with a magnitude of 1.4.

Shortly after at 8.43pm, Treshnish Islands off the Argyll coast recorded a quake of 1.1 magnitude.

It comes after a series of temors hit the area in recent months – with one previously shaking homes over Christmas.

The 2.0 magnitude tremor was recorded by the British Geological Survey at 5.16am on Christmas Eve. The epicentre was at Kimelford in Argyll.

Residents at the time described a “loud bang that woke me up” before thinking it “was a military jet”.

On December 15, a 1.5 magnitude quake was logged at Morvern.

Since October 10, 13 earthquakes have been recorded in the area.

There are around 200 to 300 earthquakes in Britain every year – mostly going unnoticed.

But around 30 can be felt and have a magnitude of 2.0 and larger.

The largest known Scottish earthquake on land occurred near Loch Awe in 1880, with a magnitude of 5.2.

UK earthquakes, particularly in Scotland, are most often attributed to glacial rebound.

Until about 10,500 years ago much of the north of the UK was covered by a thick layer of ice – which pushed the rocks down into the underlying mantle.

These rocks have been slowly rising back up ever since the ice melted, causing occasional earthquakes in the process.

The UK is also subject to tectonic stresses caused by the expansion of the Atlantic Ocean.



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