Earthquake hits the Coral Sea off the coast of Yeppoon

An offshore earthquake recorded off the Central Queensland coast was felt as far inland as Rockhampton.

Earthquake recorded in the Coral Sea off the coast of Rockhampton.

An offshore earthquake has rocked Central Queensland but experts say the small quake is unlikely to result in ongoing risk.

At around 10.48am this morning Geoscience Australia recorded a magnitude 3.2 earthquake approximately 200 kilometres off the coast of Yeppoon.

Geoscience Australia Senior Seismologist, Dr Trevor Allen, said it was a ‘relatively small’ earthquake with around 100 earthquakes of this size and greater being recorded each year in Australia.

“Certainly there will be no impacts from this event,” he said.

So far they have received just one report of someone feeling the earthquake at this stage but Dr Allen encouraged others to fill in a Felt Report if they also felt the ground move.

“I am a little surprised,” he said.

“I thought it would have been a little bit too far offshore to be felt.”

Dr Allen said he would not expect any impact to the nearby reef.

The area is unusual for earthquakes with only one other recorded within 100 kilometres but he said some of the largest and most widely felt earthquakes in Queensland had occurred off the coast.

He said they were keeping an eye on the area and aftershocks were possible but the ongoing risk was ‘minimal’.

Originally published as Earthquake hits the Coral Sea off the coast of Yeppoon