Lancashire residents say the 3.3-magnitude tremor felt like "an underground explosion", but there are no reports of damage.

The ShakeAlert system that warns about imminent shaking arriving from earthquakes sent a false alarm across California on Thursday morning for a magnitude 5.9 temblor that did not happen.

In a recent Science study, researchers used 15 kilometers of telecom fiber near Mendocino, Calif., to record the region’s biggest earthquake in five years—capturing in fine detail how the magnitude 7 rupture started, slowed and sped up, accelerating even faster than the speed of sound.

The United States Geological Survey quickly deleted the alert, saying it had been sent in error. “This isn’t a good look,” one earthquake expert said.

In general, earthquakes are caused by the tectonic plates that make up the earth moving and rubbing together. The UK is situated within the Eurasian plate, more than 1,600km away from the nearest plate boundary, which is why it does not experience earthquakes as big as other parts of the world.

There were no immediate reports of major damage, but the state transportation department said it would survey roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

A 4.1-magnitude quake has hit the Costa del Sol. The tremor stuck near Fuengirola, Malaga, at a depth of 78 kilometres, at 10.38am this morning (9.38am GMT), according to the National Geographic Institute.

SAN BENITO COUNTY, CA - Friday morning, a preliminary 2.0 magnitude quake was detected close to Pinnacles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.