Shaking felt in Dartmouth not seismic activity, says scientist

Apr 2, 2021

Did you feel that?

Dartmouth residents are reporting on social media that they felt shaking in what seemed to be an earthquake at around 10:45 a.m. on April 2 — but it wasn’t, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Robert Sanders, geophysicist at the national Geological Survey office, said that there has been no indication of any seismic activity in the area today.

Depending on how widely the tremor was felt, “it was most likely a sonic boom of some sort,” possibly coming from a nearby aircraft, he noted.

The source of the tremor is otherwise unknown.

Dartmouth was the epicenter of two earthquakes in November 2020.

The first one measured a magnitude of 3.6 — or strong enough to have damaged homes in New Bedford.