An earthquake registering 2.4 on the Richter scale hit Lincoln County at approximately 1:20 p.m. on January 14, according to Tod Hartung of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency (LCEMA) and other sources.
There were conflicting reports regarding the earthquake’s epicenter. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake was centered offshore about three miles southeast of Boothbay Harbor.
However, Maine State Geologist Bob Marvinney said data from the New England Seismic Network placed the epicenter onshore in Lincoln County, south of Edgecomb toward Boothbay Harbor.
A third report from the Weston Observatory at Boston College located the epicenter three miles north of Boothbay Harbor, which would also place the epicenter onshore in Lincoln County in the same area Marvinney describes.
“It’s often hard to pinpoint the epicenter with a small quake like this,” explained Marvinney. “The small quakes don’t generate enough energy to be recorded well, and the margin for error can be one to three miles.”
The USGS advised that as of 3 p.m. Jan. 14 they had received over 100 reports of the temor from residents in and near Maine, with the furthest from the epicenter being in Plymouth, N.H. Those reports included most towns in Lincoln County, with the highest numbers in Boothbay (16), Wiscasset (15), Boothbay Harbor (11), and Edgecomb (8).
There were no reports of damage in Lincoln County, according to Hartung.
