The USGS reports that the 4.5 quake was reported 325 miles from the Outer Banks

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The US Geological Survey reported a 4.5-kilometer earthquake 325 miles off the coast of North Carolina on Wednesday, April 19.

A strong 4.5-magnitude earthquake occurred in deep waters off the coast of North Carolina on Wednesday, April 19, the US Geological Survey reported.

It happened shortly after noon, and witnesses in seven East Coast states reported feeling it, including people in the Carolinas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Florida. The furthest report came from about 1,100 miles away in Jamaica.

The USGS estimates that it was central to 325 miles southeast of Buxton, on Hatteras Island.

This is off the continental shelf on the Hatteras Plain…in the middle of nowhere.

The US Geological Survey says the epicenter is estimated to be at a depth of six miles.

If it were on the ground, experts say, 4.5 would have cracked walls and rattled cars and windows.

No concerns were raised about violent waves along the coast, since a magnitude of default below the 8.0 NOAA forecast is necessary to “generate a dangerous distant tsunami.”

The seafloor off the East Coast is known to be home to hydrothermal “lost cities” in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where “black smoke vents” can spew 700 degrees of water, according to the Schmidt Institute of the Oceans. The vents are created when “cold sea water is heated by hot magma” at fissures between tectonic plates.

However, these vents and their corresponding faults are mysteriously nowhere near where the earthquake occurred.

So why is that?

McClatchy News has reached out to USGS for comment and has not heard back.

This story was originally published on April 19, 2023, at 3:26 p.m.

Mark Price has been a reporter for The Charlotte Observer since 1991, covering topics including schools, crime, immigration, LGBT issues, homelessness, and nonprofit organizations. Graduated from the University of Memphis with a major in Journalism and Art History, and a minor in Geology.

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