New Jersey residents reported shaking Thursday afternoon that the United States Geological Survey says was a sonic boom - not an earthquake.
The USGS said the sonic boom was recorded near
Hammonton, N.J. - about a half-hour south of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
“What we saw was something that was not consistent with an earthquake,” said William Yeck, a geophysicist with the USGS.
The Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, however, said the base did not hold exercises Thursday.
“We’ve also received reports of ground shaking here in South Jersey. We do not have any aircraft capable of producing a sonic boom and our training ranges are currently clear of operations,” according to a statement from the joint base on Facebook.
John Bellini, geophysicist with the USGS, initially said the shaking could have been from an earthquake or a sonic boom from a jet but “I don’t know.”
He said the USGS was investigating to determine what happened.
“We’ve gotten reports all the way from Long Island all the way down to southern New Jersey,” he said.
Karen Wall, a Patch editor who lives in Berkeley, reported feeling a rumbling like ”a large truck passing by on the street, strong enough to rattle the house.” The region had five loud rumbles that finally stopped shortly before 2 p.m.
Police departments reported the developments as they came in.
“We are experiencing some minor seismic activity and we are investigating the same,” according to the Barnegat police.
The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office asked people to not call 911 and that there have been “no reports of military training or an earthquake.”
“We are aware of the ongoing tremors,” the Brigantine Police Department said. “We have no confirmed information as to their origin. Please keep our phone lines open for emergencies.”
