Two earthquakes in one day hit Midlands

Source: USGS

Columbia, S.C. (WOLO)– The US Geological Survey announced two earthquakes in the Midlands on Tuesday.

The agency says a magnitude 2.42 earthquake centered 3.2 miles northeast of Elgin happened at 12:06pm Tuesday.

Official say a second quake happened around 12:12 4.3 miles southeast of Elgin, this one came it at 2.11 on the Richter scale.

More than 60 earthquakes have happened in the area since December of ’21.

There is no official explanation as to what is causing the earthquakes.

Some geologists have proposed that it is due to water pressure from the Wateree River seeping into cracks caused by the initial quake in December.

Officials with SCEMD say that South Carolina is just a seismically active state and this just happens to be an unusually active time.