Earthquakes in the Canberra Region - Geoscience Australia

Earthquakes in the Canberra Regionactually heard a series of three bangs in quick succession with the first being the loudest.Two to 3 km south of the epicentre, it was experienced as "a bit of a rumble" which shookthe house. Nine to 10 km SSW of the epicentre, a woman playing the piano felt itmomentarily and said it sounded like a loud truck and wall beams creaked. Thirteen to 14km ESE of the epicentre, the earthquake was reported felt like a big explosion. There wasa loud noise and a shake with only the fly screens rattling a bit.It is important to note that uncertainties in earthquake locations in the Canberra region canbe as large as 5 km or more. This makes it difficult to ascertain if an earthquake isassociated with a particular fault. Consequently, it is uncertain whether the Lake GeorgeFault is still active, but it appears likely.Figure 14. Lake George. The escarpment, at the left of the picture, has weathered backfrom its original position on the Lake George Fault which is to the right of the highway.This has occurred by erosion and landslides, like this one in June 2005 (inset) whichcaused a semi trailer to jack knife.MURRUMBATEMAN EARTHQUAKESThe cluster of earthquake epicentres at the northwest corner of Figure 2 is just south of thetownship of Murrumbateman, 35 km NNW of the Canberra GPO.Fourteen earthquakes, with Richter magnitudes ranging from 1.2-2.4 have occurred withina square with sides 10 km from the township during the period 1981-1995. Of theseevents, nine were main shocks (an average of 0.6 per year), and five of these were in thearea of Figure 2.20