Activity at a mine near Bendigo is responsible for a powerful earthquake that struck early on Tuesday morning.
The magnitude 3.5 tremor struck at 6:41 a.m., according to Geoscience Australia, about 45 kilometers northeast of Bendigo, near the town of Elmore.
The Forestville gold mine, near Bendigo, about 20 minutes from Elmore, said it recorded a “mine-induced seismic event”.
“We understand this was felt by many in the surrounding community,” said the company, which is Victoria’s largest gold producer.
“FGM is currently reviewing the event and we will publish more details once they have been confirmed.”
Residents in Bendigo and as far away as Melbourne reported feeling slight tremors, but nothing comparable to the largest earthquake recorded in Victoria, which occurred in September 2021 with a significant magnitude of 5.9.
That earthquake, which originated near Mansfield, caused damage to buildings in Melbourne and was felt as far away as Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide.
There have been more than a dozen earthquakes of magnitudes greater than three in the area since the 2021 event.
A minor earthquake occurred near the town of Elmore, about 150 kilometers north of Melbourne (pictured with the red dot) early Tuesday morning.
Aftershocks occurring years or decades after the initial earthquakes were common, Professor Cummins said, and more could follow, explained seismologist Phil Cummins.
“It is not unusual for large replicas to have their own replicas,” Professor Cummins said.
While Australia did not have an active tectonic plate boundary like in New Guinea or New Zealand, stress from other boundaries slowly built up to the interior of the plate, eventually causing them to fail.
“They simply fail at a much slower rate than they would near tectonic plate boundaries, where strain rates are much faster,” he said.
The largest earthquake ever recorded in Australia was a magnitude 6.6 earthquake that struck Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in January 1988.
An average of 100 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater are recorded in Australia each year.
According to the Center for Seismological Research, approximately every 100 years a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs somewhere in Australia.
“In active areas like Japan, the Philippines or California, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 occur every few years,” he said.
“Activity in these locations is restricted to a much smaller area than Australia, so a typical site may be within 50 kilometers of a magnitude 7.0 event approximately every 100 years.
‘Earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 and larger are called large earthquakes and typically only occur at plate boundaries.
‘It is unlikely that this will ever happen within Australia. Earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 and larger will rupture faults for hundreds of kilometers, so they typically only occur in subduction zones, such as along the west coast of South America or the southern coast of Alaska.
