A small earthquake shook parts of the Washington metropolitan area late Saturday.
The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude 2.2 earthquake was centered in Anne Arundel County. Although weak, the quake was unusual for Maryland, where only a few have been centered over the years.
Saturday night’s earthquake was centered near Crownsville, and occurred a few minutes after 10 p.m.
It was not immediately clear whether any damage was caused.
Although weak, the earthquake was the strongest to occur in Maryland in at least a year. It was as strong as the magnitue 2.2 quake that occurred three years ago in the Westminster, Md. area.
More than 90 people who felt the quake sent reports to USGS. Most were in Anne Arundel. Twenty one were in Annapolis.
However, several reports came from the Bowie area. It was not immediately clear whether they were within Anne Arundel, or were on the eastern edge of Prince George’s County. Reports also came from spots in Howard and Baltimore counties.
In recent years, most of the quakes felt in the Washington area have been centered in Virginia, where a major fault is located.
Four years ago a major quake that was centered near Mineral, Va., caused widespread damage along the East Coast.
One of the strongest earthquakes produced in Maryland occurred five years ago and was centered near Germantown. It was assigned a magnitude of 3.4.
Online earthquake information indicated that only 16 quakes had been reported in Maryland in more than 8 years.