North Carolina Hit With Strongest Quake Since 1916

Some North Carolina residents had an unusual wake-up Sunday. A 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit at 8:07am near Sparta, which is located about 100 miles north of Charlotte and near the Virginia border, per the US Geological Survey. The Charlotte Observer reports it's the strongest quake on record in the state since 1916, when a 5.2-magnitude temblor struck near Skyland. CNN reports Sunday's earthquake hit at a shallow depth of 5.7 miles, adding "quakes shallower than 43 miles tend to be more destructive than deeper ones." The AP reports no injuries or damage were reported.

Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, gave context to the News & Observer: "You get [earthquakes] anywhere and you get them fairly frequently in the southeast margins of the mountains there. Earthquakes are common, but getting the sizable ones are not quite as common." (More earthquake stories.)