The earthquakes which hit this week took the count to 42 for 2025, with an increase in seismic activity detected across the United Kingdom by the British Geological Society
22:47, 14 Mar 2025Updated 22:54, 14 Mar 2025
The Brown Cow pub in Hinderwell
The earthquake struck at just before 4am on March 10 in Hinderwell near The Brown Cow pub(Image: Google Maps)
The UK has been hit by the 42nd earthquake of 2025, striking a small village in North Yorkshire among increased reports of seismic activity throughout the year.
The earthquake struck at just before 4am on March 10 in Hinderwell near The Brown Cow pub. The UK is far from major tectonic plate boundaries, but earthquakes still occur due to the presence of ancient fault lines in the Eurasian plate that occasionally shift and cause tremors.
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The quake had a magnitude of 1.0 on the Richter scale and a depth of 3km, according to the British Geological Survey. Although people might not have been able to feel it, it was strong enough for the BGS to register it.
The most recent ‘quake before this one was on March 9 in Jersey in the Channel Islands, with a magnitude of 0.7. The UK was rocked by five earthquakes in three days in February, with one hitting just five miles away from Ryan Reynold’s Wrexham football ground. The four others hit Kippen in Scotland.
Hinderwell Yorkshire on Google Maps
The recent increase in seismic activity is likely due to a clustering of earthquakes, which is a natural phenomenon(Image: Google Maps)
The recent increase in seismic activity is likely due to a clustering of earthquakes, which is a natural phenomenon.
Some earthquakes are caused by human activities like mining, fracking, wastewater disposal and dam-building.
Most UK earthquakes remain too small to be felt. Those that happen near densely populated areas are far more noticeable, which makes people think they are happening more often.
Seismograph for earthquake detection or lie detector is drawing chart. 3D rendered illustration.
Most UK earthquakes remain too small to be felt(Image: Getty Images)
A BGS spokesman said: “Although historical observations dating back several centuries show that damaging earthquakes are relatively rare in the UK, they do occur so it is important to quantify the hazard they pose to the built environment."
The biggest earthquake in a number of years hit near the British coast just over ten years ago and caused rooms to shake violently, reaching 4.1 on the Richter scale in 2014.
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