Scotland hit by second earthquake in a week with Highlands tremor

Scotland has experienced its second earthquake in less than a week after the Highlands was hit by a tremor on Friday.

The British Geological Survey reported a 2.2 magnitude earthquake just outside Roybridge, near Spean Bridge, registering on seismometers at 9.29pm.

The organisation said it had a depth of 7.5km.

“A small number of reports have been received by members of the public in the Roybridge area indicating they felt this event,” a spokesman from the survey said on Twitter.

Friday’s quake was the latest night-time tremor to hit the country.

A 3.1 magnitude earthquake was reported by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) on Tuesday just before 2am, with its epicentre some 11 miles north-west of the town of Lochgilphead, 88 miles north-west of Glasgow.

More than 30 people reported to the USGS that they had felt the tremor, with reports coming from as far as Edinburgh and Ballycastle in Northern Ireland.

The agency said that quake happened 10km below the Earth’s surface.

Data from the British Geological Survey shows between 200 and 300 earthquakes are detected in the UK every year, with tremors of between 3.0 and 3.9 magnitude occurring on the mainland once every three years on average.