Social media filled fast with personal reports and observations about the magnitude 2.5 earthquake that arrived with a bang at 3:49 a.m. on Vinalhaven, in the middle of Penobscot Bay, Aug. 26.

"It woke me and my pets out of a deep sleep," said one Vinalhaven resident, checking in the Reddit page "Earthquake in PenobscotBay". "Though out here on Vinalhaven, it was the boom more than the shaking. Definitely felt way more like an explosion of some kind than the earthquakes I've experienced up in Alaska."

Others said they felt and heard it in Rockland and Rockport.

One Rockland resident said it was more like a strong rumbling that lasted about 10 seconds.

The U.S. Geological Survey, in business since 1879, and with its ongoing Earthquake Hazards Program, reported the epicenter at four kilometers southwest of Vinalhaven, 44.012°N  68.869°W. The depth is thought to be at 10.1 km.

On its Felt Report-Tell Us page, 83 people reported in with their observations. The public is invited to report on that page for data collection.

"Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep, although some New England earthquakes occur at shallower depths," the USGS said, at its summary page. "Most of New England's and Long Island's bedrock was assembled as continents collided to form a supercontinent 500-300 million years ago, raising the northern Appalachian Mountains. The rest of the bedrock formed when the supercontinent rifted apart 200 million years ago to form what are now the northeastern U.S., the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe."

Other earthquakes recorded recently have occurred in Stanton, Texas, Aug. 25; and more than several today, Aug. 26, in Alaska, and down the Pacific coastline to Central and Latin America. And, many more around the globe.