Boorowa district has been hit with yet another earthquake, the second in the area in the last month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
A magnitude 3.2 earthquake occurred about 1.45 am on June 23, approximately 30 km from Crookwell, and follows another 2.4 quake which occurred in the Boorowa area on June 4.
Trevor Allen, a seismologist with Geoscience Australia, said, "the quake occurred at a depth of one kilometre."
Geoscience Australia received 12 felt reports.
The centre of the earthquake appeared to be somewhat regional, not near any major areas in the vicinity.
People who did report it said they were woken up and heard a noise as a result of the earthquake.
The quake lasted between 10 and 12 seconds, with witnesses claiming that they assumed it was a storm.
"Tremors are common in the Southern Tablelands," according to Trevor.
"It's difficult to say why there are so many earthquakes in that region. In general terms, Australia is located in the middle of a tectonic plate and is considered to be in a stable tectonic region globally, but the Australian continent is being stressed.
"It's being squeezed over long periods of time, and as those stresses accumulate and exceed the strength of rocks, it will break. The southern tablelands' rocks are weak, which means earthquakes are unavoidable."
Last November, a magnitude 4 earthquake struck the area, and the tremor on June 23 is the seventh registered in New South Wales this month.
"There is a very small chance a significantly larger earthquake will occur in the region, but we cannot predict it," Trevor said.