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The Breakdown: How rare was Sunday’s 3.3 magnitude earthquake in the Gulf?

How often does this happen? Not very often. We'll break down why.

LOUISIANA, USA — You likely didn’t feel it, but there was a 3.3 magnitude earthquake recorded off the coast of Louisiana late Sunday night. 

For this Breakdown, we are using tools from the US Geological Survey, which is the nation’s largest earth science mapping agency. 

Sunday night’s earthquake was at 11:15 p.m., 3.1 miles underwater, and a little over 120 miles off the coast of Gulf Shores Alabama. It’s not far from the southeast coast of Venice, Louisiana.

But how often does this happen? Not often.

Credit: Devin Bartolotta

This is a map of all recorded earthquakes off the coast of Louisiana since 1930.

Only 15 in the water have been recorded and all but one have been considered “light” on the Richter scale.

Additional data from LSU suggests this map may be missing a few dating back to the 1800s.  

But the most recent – until Sunday night - was in May of 2018. That’s when a 4.6 magnitude earthquake shook the depths of the gulf about 160 miles off the coast of New Orleans. Some people in Southeast Louisiana reportedly felt it.

The only earthquake on land in Southeast Louisiana has had in the last 33 years was in Livingston Parish in 2005. 

The strongest earthquake in the last 45 years - a ‘moderate’ 5.3 magnitude - struck about 100 miles off the coast of Grand Isle in February of 2006.

There are dozens of ancient faults and fractures all over our state and its coastline. Many of them are considered subsurface faults, as presented by the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Sciences. 

And there are more than 100 suspected surface faults identified by the Army Corps of Engineers. 

Our partners at NOLA.com report there are no known fault lines in the spot of this most current earthquake.

All this to say: there’s a lot going on underground in Louisiana we don’t even know about.

Faults are taken into consideration by the oil and gas industry and are studied when it comes to land loss and subsidence.

But when it comes to those faults causing an earthquake, it’s safe to say Sunday’s occurrence was a rare one.

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