What was that noise?
Denise
Kimberlysea 
Wonderful 1 
Luca2 
4catmom 
zentravl 4.7 earthquake.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?currentFeatureId=at00sbh3yv&extent=37.85751,-79.51904&extent=43.51669,-66.15967
Greg The Iris Seismic site started at 4.8 then went to 4.7 now its back at 4.8. Fun stuff! LOL
It was pretty exciting at home in Great Meadows. All this and now a solar eclipse. Obviously a sign of the End Time.
Some interesting information.
http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/tools/event/11825173/
Wow that was shocking. My bird was sitting on top of his cage. Knocked him off and he took flight. Hopefully everyone is okay.
AuntieL 
Citychick 
Subaru I have a friend who lives in Manhattan and she felt it there. My son works in Mt. Arlington and felt it.
The epicenter was in Lebanon, I called friends who live there. They are all OK too.
My heart finally slowed down and my legs finally stopped vibrating!
Iris There is seismic activity all the time in our area. There are 3 fault lines in NJ after all. I have been looking at the IRIS seismic website for many years. I check in almost weekly. One would be surprised at the amount of minor events on the east coast on a daily basis. Obviously there are other regions in the world that are consistently far more active with stronger events.
Local I’m currently at my second home in West Hurley, NY in the Catskills (just outside of Woodstock), and we felt it too!
Rob Durana What I wasn't expecting was the sound - it sounded like a crash/explosion. We were in Shop Rite and it sounded like something big crashed towards the back; the building shook but nothing fell or moved off the shelves.
Bovn25 Luckily, this was not a school day for many with spring break being this week. The High School I work for, right at Rt.78 and Rt.31 not far from Lebanon epicenter, our old building was shaking pretty well. Some ceiling tiles were askew and I saw some pictures that had fallen down that were on some desks. I thought it was a natural gas explosion for a few seconds, until the building started to vibrate.
If it was a normal school day, I am sure we would have had to have a structural assessment before students were allowed back in. Timing was on our side today at least.
PS- the last quake around here in these parts, 8/23/11, I had the misfortune(or luck) to be floating in the lazy river on a tube at the Land of Make Believe in Hope and could not understand what all the commotion was. Apparently, you cannot feel an earthquake while floating on water in a lazy river :)
The Rhyme Animal You know when you get a REALLY BIG thunder? That shakes the house? It was like that, except it lasted about 45 seconds. Much longer than thunder. It sounded like thunder, and felt like thunder but about 10x worse than thunder. Nothing fell off the shelves, it was more like a low rumble you could feel up through your legs and body. Glasses in the cabinets were clinking.
But it was loud enough I ran down into the garage because I thought the boiler might be fixing' to explode!
JeffersonRepub Lots of factual information here. There are multiple links to learn about this event as well as the typical seismic activity occurring in our area.
Many are interested in any aftershock activity. See the Aftershock Forecast tab.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000ma74/executive
I have relatives who live in that area. There have been several aftershocks this afternoon, but apparently not strong enough to be felt over here in Hackettstown area. Their pets are acting nervous and not happy.
Lonesome Dove Really good older article about the fault lines/area: https://njmonthly.com/articles/jersey-living/living-on-the-fault-line/
The epicenter has been moved to just off Fox Hill Rd in Tewksbury according to USGS website.
Whip Actually the epicenter wasn't Lebanon or Whitehouse Station. They show those on the map and report, and give an approximate distance from recognizable population centers in both km and Miles. They also give the depth of the quake at the epicenter. This is all fixed via trigonometry/3D geometry from the recording seismographs.
The actual epicenter was first approximated to be right under a house next to Rt. 517 in Tewksbury Twp, just outside of Oldwick. They reset it a bit later to a point about a half mile ESE of the center of Tewksbury Twp. Having been through a number of them, my first being this one in Feb. '71. Fortunately, I lived out in the desert at the time.
https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/sanfernando1971.html
That was one of the reasons I initially became a Geology major in college.
Greg, there are many more than just 3 faults in NJ. Perhaps 3 major segments of the Ramapo System, but it looks as though the WSW to ENE trending Tewksbury Fault or one of the faults parallel to it, as well as some of the intersecting faults may have been the point of the epicenter. I was trying to pinpoint it on a geologic map of the Califon Quadrangle, but was trying to do it while on break at work, so not enough time...
Phil D. We were at school today (Montclair SD) - we have spring break starting Monday. We went into a "shelter in place" for ~ 20-30 minutes while custodians checked building. About 15 minutes before there had been a child custody situation occurring at a daycare center across the street from our school. Police were at the scene of the custody situation + when shelter in place called, we somewhat assumed it was due to that.
I didn't feel anything from earthquake but was about 40-50 miles from potential epicenter and in the basement of building. Those in upstairs rooms, felt shaking + ceiling tiles shifting, etc.
Let spring break begin!!
ss2cats 
Josh 
LT 
Nutcracker YES! Felt the orig at about 10:24am, and felt the aftershock about 6pm in Great Meadows
Panda Panda Koala Weird- according to this website there have been ELEVEN earthquakes in Jersey today....and they don't yet show the one I just felt!
http://ds.iris.edu/ds/nodes/dmc/tools/event/
Golden rule 
Roywhite Josh, It's showing it now as almost twice as deep and centered in the same region as the one this AM. It seems to have been a 4.0, as well and I timed it at close to 20 seconds.
I have daughters in
Cranford, Sandy Hook and MD
and they all felt it (and the aftershocks too)
CJ The cats don't care at all. The first one they were sleeping and maybe lifted a single eyelid for 3 seconds and went back to bed.
GC A Noreaster yesterday, a 5.0 Earthquake today and an Eclipse on Monday....can Plaques & Famine be far behind? Jersey Strong
de 
NJDad I juste heard/felt it too! Came to this site to see if anyone else had heard it/felt it.
Yeah, I definitely did. I was sitting at my desk and everything rattled for two seconds maybe. Also, the reference I had above about the 5.0 it was a 4.8 yesterday.
Interesting- one of my dogs, who had a panic attack whenever there's thunder, wasn't phased at all by the earthquakes. I always assumed the thunder bothered him because he could FEEL it- it's not just a noise. But then that wouldn't explain his relative calm during the earthquake.
Felt another tremor around 6:40 AM -- looks like it was a 2.5 according to the USGS. Rattled the windows pretty well, but was over before I even had time to react.
Goldfish 29? Wow... I only noticed 2: the original 4.8, and the 4.0 aftershock at around 6pm
USGS always downgrades Earthquakes...the detector almost live time had it 5.0. Their detector not mine.
WHY is there a loud bang before the shaking?? Isi t the earth's plates shift? i'm really curious.
down by Lebanon, there were many aftershocks. i only felt the one at 5:59 pm w/ a 4.0.
Hackresident Actually, there have been 11 aftershocks today (since midnight) according to the Sage Event List. But I didn't feel any of them. All but one were around 5 km depth. And all but one were just under a 2 intensity.
Seems like they don't know for certain
Booms" have been reported for a long time, and they tend to occur more in the Northeastern US and along the East Coast. Of course, most "booms" that people hear or experience are actually some type of cultural noise, such as some type of explosion, a large vehicle going by, or sometimes a sonic boom, but there have been many reports of "booms" that cannot be explained by man-made sources. No one knows for sure, but scientists speculate that these "booms" are probably small shallow earthquakes that are too small to be recorded, but large enough to be felt by people nearby.
Large sonic booms can be recorded on the seismic instruments and have lead to some interesting observations.
Sorry about that post above. That is not what I meant to copy and paste.
It was this part of the article that I meant to send.
Small shallow earthquakes sometimes produce rumbling sounds or booms that can be heard by people who are very close to them. High-frequency vibrations from the shallow earthquake generate the booming sound; when earthquakes are deeper, those vibrations never reach the surface.
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