1668 Boston And Salem, Massachusetts Earthquake

Colonial New England kept written records early enough to preserve the earthquake felt at Boston and Salem on 13 April 1668, rated at Mercalli intensity IV. That grade describes shaking noticed indoors, with windows and dishes disturbed but no structural harm, and it is consistent with the absence of any casualty or damage entry. The catalogue position, 42.35 N, 71.05 W, is Boston itself rather than a computed epicentre. New England sits deep within the North American plate, where earthquakes arise on ancient faults reactivated by regional stress; they are rare, generally moderate, and felt across unusually wide areas. No magnitude or focal depth was estimated for the seventeenth-century event.

1668 Boston AND Salem, Massachusetts: unknown magnitude earthquake, shallow crustal focus. No fatalities recorded. regional tectonic fault rupture.