Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
COALINGA, Calif. (AP) — A series of small earthquakes jolted an area of central California, but there were no reports of damage.
The largest in the sequence — a magnitude-4.1 temblor — hit at 6:30 a.m. Friday and was centered 6 miles north of Coalinga at a depth of 7 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake wasn't too strong and lasted four or five seconds, said Christine Mercer, a dispatcher with the Coalinga Police Department.
"You could kind of hear the rumble and then there was a jerk and that was it," she said.
Mercer said police received numerous calls, but none reported any damage or injuries.
Scientists said the quakes occurred in a fault zone that experiences magnitude-3 or magnitude-4 events every year or so.
"There is nothing unusual about the recent activity," Jennifer Andrews, seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.