11 earthquakes have been detected in and around Irish shores since the beginning of the year.
Earthquake fans; this news will leave you shook.
A new seismic station 60 metres underground has been installed in Tipperary.
The station is located in Mitchelstown cave, and operated by staff members from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) Irish National Seismic Network (INSN).
The Mitchelstown station is the ninth in the country overall, but the first to go underground.
Since its installation in May, the station has already detected earthquakes in southern Peru and the Fiji Islands.
“The addition of the new seismic station at Mitchelstown Cave will contribute greatly to our understanding of what lies beneath Ireland and the structure of the Earth as a whole," said Dr Martin Möllhoff, Director of Seismic Networks at DIAS.
"We received additional funding from Geological Survey Ireland with the aim of doubling the number of permanent seismic monitoring stations to 12 and we’re excited to start making this a reality.
“Since the beginning of 2022 we have detected 11 earthquakes in and around our shores – all of this information is fed back to our data centre at DIAS allowing us to understand the world beneath us.
"Most people think there are no earthquakes in Ireland but there are actually smaller earthquakes happening all the time. It is important that we are aware that, even though we may not feel it, the world is moving slowly beneath us all the time.”
The most recent earthquake in Ireland was detected on Monday (25 July), when a Magnitude 0.9 earthquake occurred at 2.35am in northern Donegal.
“Having a seismic station located deep underground within the quiet Galtee-Vee valley provides us with a unique opportunity to collect high quality data that is not adversely affected by human activity such as building sites and road and rail traffic," said Professor Chris Bean, Head of Geophysics at DIAS.
"This allows us to detect Ireland’s smallest earthquakes on our seismic network, and to better understand the forces at play beneath our feet."
Featured Image: Michael O'Sullivan / DIAS
