The most interesting aspect of this earthquake was not only its location--earthquakes on the East Coast of the United States are far less common than they are along the West Coast--but how people hundreds of miles from the epicenter could readily feel the quake. New York City residents could clearly feel the tremors, 316 miles away from the epicentre. The quake could even be felt in parts of Canada.

So, why is it that a fairly moderate earthquake that's incapable of causing significant amounts of serious damage, was felt from such a distance away? While some websites have pinpointed perhaps one reason why the Virginia quakes could travel so far, there are actually a few factors at play that could explain why earthquakes of varying magnitudes can go the distance. First, let's take a look at some earthquake basics.

As you probably already know, earthquakes are caused by from tectonic plates that make up the Earth's Crust. These plates are constantly shifting as part of continental drift, and the boundaries between them consist of a series of fault lines.

Not all faults (or portions of faults) can cause earthquakes--some exhibit , where the land masses on both sides of the fault slowly slip by each other without causing a quake. But if the two plates can't slip by each other, stress builds up along a fault, and it when that stress is relieved.