A "rare" earthquake occurred off the coast of Florida on Wednesday evening just before a NASA rocket launch near the area.
The United States Geological Survey confirmed the magnitude 4.0 earthquake on its website. The quake occurred roughly 100 miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and was 6 miles under the seafloor, according to the USGS.
Newsweek reached out to the United States Geological Survey via email for comment.
"NEW: Rare earthquake near Florida occurred 100 miles east of Cape Canaveral last night at 10:48 PM. It was at a depth of 6 miles with light shaking felt in Brevard County. Did you feel it?" Matt Dewitt of Fort Myers' WINK News wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, also reported the earthquake on X and asked residents if they felt any of its effects.
"02/08 | Did anyone feel the Earthquake last night? A 4.0 magnitude Earthquake was reported well offshore of the Brevard County coast 101.4 mi E of Cape Canaveral at 10:48 PM Wednesday," NWS Melbourne posted.
On Thursday morning, NASA launched its PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 ship.
"We have liftoff," NASA wrote on X at 1:35 a.m. EST on Thursday. "Our PACE spacecraft is on its way to study microscopic organisms in our ocean and particles in the air."
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection states on its website that the risk of tectonic activity is very low in Florida.
In February 2023, meteorologist Amanda Holly of Tampa news station WFLA said: "Earthquakes in Florida are extremely rare because there are no active fault zones or plate boundaries...That being said, seismic activity is not impossible in Florida, but if an earthquake does occur near the state, especially in the peninsula, it is not expected to be very strong.
"According to the United States Geological Survey, there are less than 2 expected number of occurrences of damaging earthquake shaking in 10,000 years in the central peninsula."
Since 1900, data from the USGS shows that there has only been one other earthquake reported near where the most recent one occurred. In 2001, there was a 3.3 magnitude earthquake roughly 86 miles from Saint Augustine Beach.
Dewitt shared a photo on X in another post of several recent earthquakes that have occurred in or near the state: "#Earthquake history in or near Florida over the past 200 years. State record is 4.4 magnitude near Orange Springs in 1879," the post said.
Update 2/8/24, 2:08 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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