Earthquakes in the Netherlands occur mostly in the southeast and northeast of the country, with mostly

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

earthquakes in the southeast and induced earthquakes in the northeast. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute started with seismic registrations in 1904. The heaviest earthquake was the 1992 Roermond earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8.

Seismic registration

The first time that seismic activity in the Netherlands was registered by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in

De Bilt De Bilt () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. It had a population of in . De Bilt houses the headquarters of the Royal Netherland ...

was on 26 June 1904.

Tectonic earthquakes

The natural earthquakes that occur in the southeast of the Netherlands are caused by active rifts of the

European Cenozoic Rift System The European Cenozoic Rift System (ECRIS) is a long system of rifts formed in the foreland of the Alps as the lithosphere responded to the effects of the Alpine and Pyrenean orogenies. The system began to form during the Late Eocene and parts ...

. The 1992 Roermond earthquake in the southeastern province of Limburg was the heaviest registered earthquake in the Netherlands. It had a magnitude of 5.8 and occurred in

Roermond Roermond (; or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received City rights i ...

on 13 April 1992.

Induced earthquakes

Since 1986, there have been around 1,000 induced earthquakes in the northeast of the Netherlands caused by the exploitation of the

Groningen gas field The Groningen gas field is a natural gas field in Groningen province in the northeastern part of the Netherlands. With an estimated 2,740 billion cubic metres of recoverable natural gas, it is the largest natural gas field in Europe and one of t ...

near Slochteren. The heaviest registered earthquake in the northeastern province of

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

had a magnitude of 3.6 and occurred in Huizinge on 16 August 2013. This event count shows a remarkable exponential growth in time, which would possibly lead to one event per day in 2025. While moderate in magnitude, the sheer number of events acts as a physical stressor to living conditions and gives an adverse outlook long term on structural integrity of homes and buildings. On March 29, 2018, the government therefore announced it would shut down the gas extraction on this field entirely by 2030 at the latest. It is projected the normal exploration will end by 2022, while still serving as a reserve for exceptionally cold winters. After peaking in 2013 the number of induced earthquakes with a magnitude > 1,5 has been decreasing. Up to 2016, however, KNMI data up to 2016 reveal an exponential trend in yearly event counts.
van Putten, M.H.P.M., van Putten, A.F.P., & van Putten, M.J.A.M., 2016, Earthquakes and Structures, 11, 861, https://doi.org/10.12989/eas.2016.11.5.861

Heaviest earthquakes

Since 1904, there were seven earthquakes in the Netherlands with a magnitude of 4.0 or higher. All were noninduced earthquakes in the southeastern provinces of Limburg and

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

.Geïnduceerde aardbevingen in Nederland
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, 2013. Retrieved on 17 March 2015.

References

External links

* {{Europe topic, List of earthquakes in Earthquakes in Europe Natural disasters in the Netherlands

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Earthquakes An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...