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Small 4.3 earthquake gives Seattle area little shake

caption: An earthquake, rated 4.3, rattled the broader Seattle area on the evening of Sunday, October 8, 2023. The earthquake center was east of Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.
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An earthquake, rated 4.3, rattled the broader Seattle area on the evening of Sunday, October 8, 2023. The earthquake center was east of Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.
U.S. Geological Survey

An earthquake with preliminary 4.3 magnitude shook beneath Marrowstone Island in the Salish Sea at 7:21 p.m. on Sunday.

The earthquake was shallow -- 35 miles deep, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

"We know it was widely felt around the Puget Sound - many of us at PNSN felt it ourselves," the seismic network wrote on Twitter.

There have been small earthquakes registered in that area going back decades, although most are small, almost imperceptible.

There was a 4.9 earthquake in 2009 in Indianola, just south. In 1976, there was a 4.7 earthquake due north, closer to Whidbey Island.


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