ELGIN, S.C. — Another day, and more earthquakes in the South Carolina town of Elgin, the sixth and seventh in the area since early Monday morning.
The U.S. Geological Survey confirms a 2.8 magnitude quake struck at 3:09 p.m. Tuesday. It was centered 3.1 miles to the east-southeast of the town of Elgin and trembled 3.8 miles beneath the ground.
And then shortly afterward, it was confirmed there was a 2.3 quake at 1:24 p.m., also about three miles east-southeast Elgin. This one was 2.4 miles beneath the surface.
News19 has already gotten reports of people who felt the quakes, including reporter Walker Lawson, who was in that area. Just last night, a 2.9 magnitude quake in nearly the same area.
The latest spate of quakes began at 1:32 a.m. Monday morning, when a 3.3 tremor struck. The quake was felt in multiple counties, waking some people up from their sleep. That quake is tied for the biggest earthquake in South Carolina since Valentines Day 2014.
Two other minor tremors happened hours later. Then early Monday evening, another took place.
Tuesday afternoon's quakes are the 29th and 30th recorded near the Elgin area since late December, and the 26th and 27th since January 1.
Despite so many quakes happening in that time period, experts say this is something that can happen naturally. Scott White, a geology professor at the University of South Carolina, says they are continuing to research the earthquakes in an attempt to understand why this is happening and if it will continue.
"We don't view this whole sequence as an event with aftershocks, but rather a whole sequence of little earthquakes that are progressively relieving the stress within the earth's crust," White said. "Over this period of time, when enough stress gets relieved, we will see the end of this series of events. The ongoing seismic sequence doesn't reflect abnormal seismic behavior. This one's a bit longer than most, but it could continue for several more months or maybe even a year."