[Scarlett.]

I was gonna post this earlier, but then realised the date lol so I waited until this aft

An officer patrols in Blackpool, where police received early morning calls reporting a small earthquake. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

A small earthquake has shaken Blackpool and the Fylde coast – toppling traffic lights, cracking a railway bridge and making some residents think they were being burgled as they woke in the early hours to loud noises.

Several householders called police at around 3.30am to report they had felt the ground shaking. Some thought it was an April Fools' Day prank.

The British Geological Survey recorded a tremor with a magnitude of 2.2 – rated as a minor earthquake. The epicentre was located between Carleton and Poulton industrial estate.

Residents reported wardrobe doors being flung open while staff at Blackpool's Bonny Street police station felt the building shake. Officers were sent to Lytham Road in South Shore after reports that cracks had started to appear in the railway bridge.

Police said: "Some may have thought it was an April fool prank, but staff here felt the building move. We had a number of calls from residents. A woman in Grange Park rang up as she had been woken and thought her house was being broken into. Temporary traffic lights in Thornton Gate fell over while a man reported his motorbike had been knocked down.

"CCTV cameras on Lytham Road picked up superficial cracks on the road surface of the railway bridge near to the zebra crossing. We sent out officers to check it out. It's known as a weak bridge anyway. It was deemed to be safe."

The bridge was closed to buses in February because its condition had begun to deteriorate.

In 2008 Blackpool was one of several centres to feel the strongest tremors in the UK in 25 years.

The Gaurdian

I slept through it

[Benjamin]

Another, they are on the increase. I told you lot. That dormant faultline beneath the UK is starting to increase in activity as they rest of the tectonic plates will finally force it to give way. I reckon we'll have a big one soon.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by ukturtle

Another, they are on the increase. I told you lot. That dormant faultline beneath the UK is starting to increase in activity as they rest of the tectonic plates will finally force it to give way. I reckon we'll have a big one soon.

We have earthquakes everyday in the UK, they're just normally to small to be felt, the fact that people felt a magnitute 2 earthquake surprises me

[Scarlett.]

Nah, we live on a stable part of the world, there's no real big faults here, like there is in California and Japan

[Omah]

I felt the earth move beneath my bum .....

But thought it was just unexpected flatulence .....

Epicentre

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Chewy

Nah, we live on a stable part of the world, there's no real big faults here, like there is in California and Japan

There is an ancient faultline beneath the UK. You never know, it could become active again, the world does what it wants.

[Lee.]

Benjamin! Get you lazy ass out of here this minute and go and do some studying!!

Do you think this is a time to be bickering about fault lines fgs?!!

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by happyland

Benjamin! Get you lazy ass out of here this minute and go and do some studying!!

Do you think this is a time to be bickering about fault lines fgs?!!

I am studying! I'm listening to lots of music and looking at major sporting and film areas.

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by ukturtle

I am studying! I'm listening to lots of music and looking at major sporting and film areas.

Oh.. sorry about that!

[arista]

To Low
to cause any damage.


I assume California could be next?

[DDRickyDD]

Well I didn't feel anything.

[Kerry]

They happen often. They're just getting reported in the news more due to Japan :/

[Omah]

It's probably been caused by the fracking for gas in the Bowland Shale at Weeton .....

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-15550458

It is "highly probable" that shale gas test drilling triggered earth tremors in Lancashire, a study has found.

But the report, commissioned by energy firm Cuadrilla, also said the quakes were due to an "unusual combination of geology at the well site".

It said conditions which caused the minor earthquakes were "unlikely to occur again".

Anti-fracking activists who have climbed a rig near Southport in protest said it "did not inspire confidence".

Four protesters from campaign group Frack Off have climbed the drilling rig at one of the test drilling sites in Hesketh Bank.

The group is against fracking, a controversial extraction method which blasts water into rock to release shale gas, because they fear it is not safe.

Safety concerns

Cuadrilla suspended its shale gas test drilling in June, over fears of links to the earthquakes.

One tremor of magnitude 2.3 on the Richter scale hit Lancashire's Fylde coast on 1 April, followed by a second of magnitude 1.4 on 27 May.

The Geo-mechanical Study Of Bowland Shale Seismicity report said the combination of geological factors that caused the quakes was rare, and would be unlikely to occur together again at future well sites.

It said: "If these factors were to combine again in the future local geology limits seismic events to around magnitude 3 on the Richter scale as a worst-case scenario."

Cuadrilla said the report would also be subject to peer review.

A spokesman for Frack Off said: "This report does not inspire confidence, they should have done their research before drilling began."

He added: "Can we believe anything else the industry says when it talks about the safety of fracking?"

A study by The British Geological Survey placed the epicentre for each quake as being 500m away from the Preesall-1 well, which is between the villages of Singleton and Weeton, near Blackpool.

A "report" from the company looking to get a return of billions on its' investment is hardly likely to admit the possibility of blowing up Bowland AONB ....