Pets live in fear in Dedham as ‘mini-earthquakes’ shake the area

The first weeks of 2023 have not been kind to Bentley.

The tiny mixed-breed dog is in an almost constant state of agitation thanks to the constant seismic activity beneath the Dedham home he shares with his humans Mike and Linda Curcio.

Last month, the retired couple and Bentley felt the ground shake and boom under their feet thanks to earthquakes too small to cause damage, but powerful enough to notice.

“These micro-earthquakes are something that is directly at or even below the detection limit of earthquake detectors,” said Henry Perry, chief geologist with the Maine Geological Survey. “Here where we are not used to earthquakes can be really worrying.”

There have been 51 of these small quakes, referred to as “quake swarms,” ​​in Dedham in the past two weeks, according to Perry. While this phenomenon is actually very common in Maine, earthquakes are rare in a populated area like Dedham. Constant seismic activity has been shown to cause sudden unrest to residents and their dogs, who are more sensitive to earthquakes.

The strongest was an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale on January 14, followed immediately over two hours by 15 smaller quakes of magnitude 2.

The Curcios had only been in their home for a few weeks when the ground started shaking beneath it last November.

“We just built our house and moved in,” said Mike Curcio. “It sounded like a boulder exploding with a bang [and] Every time we would run outside and run to see if anything hit the house.”

It’s a valid fear. Curcios’ house is located at the bottom of a slope that leads to Phillips Lake. Uphill is a large boulder that, if shaken, would cut a straight path through the house on its way to the lake.

The odds of that happening are very slim, but it doesn’t give Bentley much comfort, according to Mike Curcio.

“Every time he feels or hears one of these earthquakes, [Bentley] “He has an out-of-body experience,” said Mike Curcio. “He’s used to the little ones, but the dogs across the street start barking when that happens.”

Mike Curcio looks out his window as he talks about the small earthquakes he and his wife Linda have been feeling recently at their home in Dedham. Their dog Bentley is on edge from the constant seismic activity below. Credit: Linda Kwan Orecek/BDN

Bentley and the other dogs and humans at Phillips Lake not only feel the vibrations of the earth, they hear them as well.

“The first time we heard it, we thought it was a sonic boom,” said Mike Curcio. “Our neighbor thought his oven had exploded.”

What they hear is the release of pressure that is being created farther from the Earth’s surface.

“It’s all about [continental] Perry said. “It’s the plate under us. That’s the part that’s causing trouble.”

Maine sits atop the North American Plate along with the rest of North America, Greenland, part of Iceland, and part of Siberia. Like other plates on the planet, it is in constant motion, cutting along at about 2.5 cm per year, heading to the southwest.

It is not a smooth ride.

Much like riding a cacophony over potholes and sleet on a Maine country road, the North American Plate hops—albeit slowly—on the jagged surface of crustal miles below.

“People are surprised when you equate noise with an earthquake,” Perry said. “But the creaking sounds are so typical of low-intensity earthquakes as if they were occurring in Dedham.”

They are often described as looking like rushing wind or snow sliding off a roof.

“The movement of the plates increases the pressure that has to go somewhere,” Perry said. “It creates seismic waves that travel through solid rock and don’t make a sound until they hit the air [and] When that wave hits the surface of the earth, it explodes in the air.”

Linda Curcio was in touch with Berry and became something of a micro-seismologist, recording the date and time you hear or feel them.

Pictures hang on the walls of Curcio’s Dedham home from the daily mini-earthquakes they’ve experienced in the past few weeks. These earthquakes are too small to cause any damage, but they are powerful enough to notice. Credit: Linda Kwan-Okrecek/BDN

So far, it has recorded at least one small earthquake per day since the beginning of the year. According to Perry, writing down when and where these small earthquakes occur will help geologists who study the phenomenon.

“We know what causes it in general, but we would like to know more and to find out more we need more detailed information,” Perry said. “We know of a lot of earthquakes in the West in places like California but there isn’t a lot of data on them here in Maine.”

Linda Curcio is a graduate of the University of Maine and graduated summer at Phillips Lake. No one at the time mentioned earthquakes.

While small earthquakes may be new to Dedham, there are centuries of documentation of them occurring in Maine.

“If you look at all the records we have going back to the 18th century magazines, it clearly happened everywhere in Maine,” said Perry. “They’re really interesting.”

There seems to be at least one resident along Phillips Lake who doesn’t share this enthusiasm.

“I am fascinated by them,” said Linda Curcio. “Unfortunately, Bentley spends hours shaking after each one and is really unhappy when that happens.”

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