One of the strongest earthquakes in Lower Saxony in the last ten years caused minor damage to buildings in the Diepholz district on Monday. The earthquake at 12:07 p.m. reached a local magnitude of 3.6, said a spokesman for the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG). Magnitude refers to the strength of an earthquake. The epicenter was near Syke, around 20 kilometers south of Bremen’s state border. “It could have been felt within a radius of 15 kilometers,” said the spokesman. A connection with local natural gas production is “very likely”.
At the epicenter is the Klosterseelte/Kirchseelte/Ortholz natural gas field owned by Exxon Mobil. An hour after the quake, the state office had already received 30 reports from those affected, said the spokesman. Minor damage such as cracks in the interior or exterior plaster, rattling windows and doors and smaller fallen objects were reported.
Exxon Mobil announced that, based on current knowledge, a connection with natural gas production “cannot be ruled out” due to the geographical proximity. However, no natural gas is currently being produced from this field. Those affected could contact the company. On Sunday night there was also a tremor in Emlichheim in the county of Bentheim near the Dutch border, but with a magnitude of 2.0 it was significantly weaker than in Syke. There, too, a connection to natural gas production can be assumed, the state office said.
According to the information, the extraction of natural gas can lead to tensions deep underground. If the tensions in weak areas in the subsurface are released in impulses, noticeable tremors could occur on the surface. Most recently, two earthquakes with local magnitudes of 3.2 and 3.0 occurred in November 2019 at the Völkersen natural gas field in the Verden district, which were felt strongly by the population. The strongest earthquake to date in Lower Saxony was measured in Rotenburg/Wümme in 2004 with a magnitude of 4.5. In 2005, the earth was shaken in Syke with a magnitude of 3.8.