Mining not to blame for latest SA quake

General news0

Mining not to blame for latest SA quake

Updated March 27, 2012 13:33:32

Geoscience Australia said a magnitude 3.9 earthquake near Olympic Dam in outback South Australia was not caused by any explosion at the mine.

The quake’s epicentre was about 10 kilometres from the Roxby Downs mine in the far north of SA on Monday morning.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the remote region near Ernabella last week.

Seismologist Hugh Glanville said the two jolts were not related.

“We’ve had a few aftershocks and foreshocks for that big one north near Ernabella, but for these two earthquakes they’re too far apart to be linked in that kind of way,” he said.

The quake near Ernabella left no major damage but locals said cracks opened up in the ground and there were some rockfalls.

The jolt was felt hundreds of kilometres from the epicentre.

Topics:earthquake, disasters-and-accidents, olympic-dam-5725, roxby-downs-5725, port-pirie-5540, port-lincoln-5606, port-augusta-5700, ernabella-872, sa, australia

First posted March 27, 2012 13:29:56

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