A small earthquake happened overnight southeast of Charlotte

A small earthquake happened overnight in Pageland, S.C., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It measured 2.2 around 2 a.m. and was centered about 3 miles east of the town, which is about an hour southeast of Charlotte.

Robert Sanders, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said small earthquakes such as these occur throughout the country, and typically aren’t felt unless near a populated area. He said they’re the result of “micro faults” that occur around the world, and aren’t of concern like the faults that cause large earthquakes in west coast states like California.

“We have these periodic smaller events that just sort of happen naturally,” Sanders said.

As for how often these quakes occur in the region, Sanders said there have been 16 small earthquakes within a 20 to 50 mile radius near Pageland and along the state border since 2000. The largest was a magnitude 3.4 earthquake in Bennettsville, South Carolina in 2006. The region gets about one per year, he said.

This story was originally published May 18, 2017 at 10:23 AM with the headline "A small earthquake happened overnight southeast of Charlotte."