Gulf Shores began the year with a snow storm that shut down the city. Now it has registered an earthquake. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded a 3.1M earthquake off the coast of Gulf Shores on Friday.

The distance from the Gulf Shores coast to the hypocenter of the earthquake was 71.1 miles. The depth of the quake was 6.2 miles. The earthquake occurred at 2:41 p.m. and no tsunami watch or warning was issued.

Undersea, or underwater earthquakes are called 'submarine quakes' and occur underwater at the bottom of a body of water, especially an ocean.

Earthquakes can occur along the seafloor and cause it to move. And if the quake is powerful enough, it can trigger waves that travel across the ocean. These waves grow taller as they approach land, becoming a tsunami.

No damage was reported on land nor by any local boaters in the area.