4.2 magnitude earthquake near Buffalo, N.Y., felt in southern Ontario

Anearthquakenear Buffalo, N.Y., with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2,was "lightly felt" in parts of southern Ontario Monday morning, according to Earthquakes Canada.

"I woke up to it," St. Catharines, Ont.residentStephen Murdochtold CBC Hamilton.

Murdoch said his house shook around 6:15 a.m. ET.

"Ifelt what I guess you would consider a small jolt and continuous shaking . about 15 to 20 seconds," he said.

The federal agencysays it doesn't expect any damage would come from the reported earthquake, but said as of roughly 8 a.m., there were more than 200reports of people in southern Ontariofeeling the rumble, including in Hamilton, the Greater Toronto Area andas far as Quinte West, Ont., near Belleville.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the U.S.says the earthquake occurred in West Seneca, N.Y. and labelled it a 3.8 magnitude quake some three kilometres beneath the surface.

'The bed was shaking'

Musician Rich Jones said he felt the rumble in Hamilton.

"My dog started barking and the bed was shaking for a few seconds. Never felt an earthquake here before. Wild," Jones tweeted.

Earthquakes Canada last recorded an earthquake in Ontario in theGreater Sudbury area on Jan. 22, measuring2.8magnitude.

Earthquakes are generally caused by large segments of the Earth's crust, called tectonic plates, continuously shifting, according to Earthquakes Canada.

The Southern Great Lakes Seismic Zone has a low to moderate amount of seismicity when compared to the more active seismic zones to the east, along the Ottawa River and in Quebec.

Yihe Huang, an associate professor in geophysics at theUniversity of Michigan, has been studying earthquakes in Lake Erie for the last five years.

She told CBC Hamilton there were at least four earthquakes in the region with a magnitude of3.0 or greaterin the last five years.

"This definitely indicates that we have fault lines around Lake Erie," she said, adding that increasedwater levels or weight can add stress on the faultsand activate them.

"This could contribute to the occurrence of today's earthquake... but we need to look into the data more thoroughly."

For Murdoch, the experience was impressive.

"It's an incredible event to live through I can't imagine the ones of greater magnitude," Murdoch said.

"I think there's going to be a lot of discussion at water coolers across Buffalo and southern Ontario in terms of what happened this morning."