A little earthquake to jumpstart Black Friday

Black Friday began with a jolt as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake jostled parts of South Jersey just after midnight.

The small quake hit about a mile west of Clementon at 12:13 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was the second in New Jersey in recent weeks, following a 2.0-magnitude earthquake in Ringwood, Passaic County, on Nov. 5.

Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the Geological Survey, said he would expect "no damage" from Friday's quake.

"That's like the smallest possible quake that people feel," he said. But it was forceful enough to cause a late-night stir for some.

"We were sound asleep and we felt, like, an explosion, which woke us up," said AnnLynne Benson, 65, of Clementon.

Her husband immediately went to the front door and saw neighbors surveying their property, she said. Benson's daughter, who lives in Erial, also thought she heard an explosion.

Others slept right through the excitement. David Hackney, 67, of Gloucester Township, was browsing his email when he felt a "brief and slight" shaking. His wife, daughter, and grandson, who weren't awakened, were skeptical of his earthquake theory Friday morning.

They asked, " 'How much wine did you have yesterday, Papa?' " said Hackney, a professor at Rowan University.

The earthquake paled in comparison to the 5.8-magnitude one that struck central Virginia and rattled the East Coast in August 2011, Benson and Hackney said. That quake caused at least $80 million in damage near its epicenter, closed the Washington Monument, and forced a shutdown of a nearby nuclear power plant.

It is not unheard of for New Jersey to experience two small earthquakes in a month, Caruso said. But typically, the state only gets no more than a couple a year, said geophysicist John Bellini, also with the Geological Survey.

A couple dozen earthquakes shake the Northeast on a yearly basis, Bellini said.

Camden County spokesman Dan Keashen said the county had received no calls reporting property damage. Clementon police did not respond to a request for comment.