Windows rattle and beds shake as Ollerton is hit by earth tremors

TWO earthquakes have been felt beneath Notts town Ollerton within the space of two days.

A tremor of magnitude 1.4 on the Richter scale was first felt at around 4am on Saturday.

A second quake of 1.8 magnitude was then recorded in the town yesterday, at 10.09am.

Experts at the British Geological Survey, which has its main offices in Keyworth, recorded both tremors.

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Seismologist Glenn Ford said 12 people had reported feeling Saturday's quake, while a further seven came forward within an hour of yesterday's tremor, saying they had felt it.

Mr Ford, who works at the British Geological Survey's offices in Edinburgh, said: "In real terms these tremors were extremely small. We get between 20 to 30 earthquakes in the UK every year with a magnitude of 2.

"You would probably get a bit of shaking for a few seconds at most, which would leave you thinking 'what was that?'

"During the one on Saturday, people said they had felt the bed shaking, and the windows and wardrobes were rattling. The second quake was considerably larger."

The two quakes are the latest to have been recorded in the Ollerton area in recent months. They may have been caused by underground subsidence from old mine workings.

The British Geological Survey also recorded a quake of magnitude 1.4 in Ollerton on November 18, and another of 1.6 magnitude on October 8.

One of magnitude 1.4 was also recorded in nearby Edwinstowe on August 9.

Mr Ford said: "There's obviously a little bit of earthquake activity in the area. There's some stress being built up locally and it's being released through the earthquakes."

There have been more than 250 earthquakes within 25km of Ollerton in the last 20 years. "Most of them have been attributed to the mining activity in that area historically," Mr Ford said.

Saturday's quake was recorded at a 1km beneath the surface, while yesterday's occurred around 2km underground. The British Geological Survey says both were felt in New Ollerton and Walesby.

But Renate Barnes, 69, who works at New Ollerton Post Office and lives in Walesby, said: "None of our customers have said they have noticed anything. It would have been the talk of the queue if they had."

The quakes are small compared to one recorded in Notts in February 2008, which measured 5.2. It was the biggest to hit the county in 250 years.