When you think of the location of earthquakes you probably think of California right away. They have hundreds of little ones every year and occasionally a big one. But who thinks of South Dakota?

According to Dakota News Now, for the second time this month, South Dakota has been hit with an earthquake. The United States Geological Survey recorded a 2.6 magnitude earthquake around 6:30 am on Wednesday that was centered 60 miles east of Rapid City near Quinn.

The little earthquake was the sixth this year in the state, according to VolcanoDiscovery.com. In the last seven months there have been seven earthquakes in the state. Another was recorded on December 9, 2020.

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This has been a banner year for earth shaking in the 605. That hasn't been the case in recent years. There were two in 2020, and there was only one in 2019 and another pair in 2018. However in 2017 we had no recorded earthquakes in the state.

Most earthquakes in South Dakota are rarely felt and only cause a low rumble and no damage to homes, according to the South Dakota Geological Survey. They also say it isn't a giant fault line that causes our earthquakes like the ones on the west coast.

Likely causes of these earthquakes are adjustments deep in the basement rocks underlying the state or ongoing rebound of the earth’s crust from compression by ice sheets during the last ice age.

The largest magnitude earthquake ever in South Dakota was centered near Huron 110 years ago. The Jerauld County quake measured 4.5 magnitude on June 2, 1911.

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