Sweden earthquake – Country rocked by 4.1 magnitude tremors in one of its strongest ever quakes
SWEDEN has been struck by one of its strongest ever earthquakes after a 4.1-magnitude tremor hit an underground iron ore mine earlier today.
Thirteen people were in the mine near Kiruna at the time but no one was injured.
The mine was quickly evacuated and all work stopped.
The quake, north of the Arctic Circle was just below the level of the country’s biggest ever of 4.3, which struck in Sjöbo, south of the country in December 2008.
Today’s strike hit the world’s largest underground iron ore mine which is more than a century old.
A spokesman for LKAB told Aftonbladet that the water level in the Kiruna mine was rising but pumps were working.
He added: "When ore is mined, holes and cracks occur which cause great stress (to the bedrock). This one happened at 1,108 metres below the surface."
The Norwegian Seismic Array NORSAR stated the earthquake was tied to the ore extraction activities.
The Swedish National Seismic Network said the earthquake shortly after 3am this morning had a magnitude of 4.1.
The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University also measured the quake with a magnitude of 4.1.
Björn Lund, a seismologist at Uppsala University, said: "Even from an international perspective it's a large mine quake."
LKAB reported this morning that the quake caused rocks to crash into the mine and that there was still seismic activity at the site.
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Several people in the city of Kiruna have said that they noticed a severe tremor in the ground.
The Swedish state-owned mining company LKAB is the largest iron ore producer in Europe.
Swedish officials plan to move the centre of Kiruna two miles to the east for safety reasons under a plan drawn up in 2004.
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