Why does Australia have earthquakes? The whole continent is under stress from distant forces

20 Aug 2025
Diagram of Australia showing location of earthquakes
Records of Australian earthquakes and the direction of the main stress in different parts of the continent. Image: M Rajabi / Geoscience Australia

Last Saturday at 9:49am local time, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred about 50km west of Gympie in Queensland. The earthquake was experienced as strong shaking locally, but did not produce any significant damage, likely because of the remote location of the epicentre.

Read the full story via The Conversation

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