<p>Geothermal exploration was the likely cause of a 3.6 magnitude earthquake today in northeastern Switzerland, authorities said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Further seismic activity cannot be ruled out in the region in the coming days, the seismology department of the Zurich Federal Polytechnic School (EPFZ) said in a statement.<br /><br />Experts "manually" recorded today's quake at 5:30 am (0330 GMT) at a depth of four kilometres (2.5 miles) near the city of St Gallen.<br /><br />"The quake is probably directly linked to trials and stimulation activities during the drilling involved in a geothermal project at St Gallen, where several mini-quakes have already been recorded in recent days," the EPFZ statement said.<br /><br />"The quake was widely felt in the region," it added.<br /><br />Police said no damage had been reported.<br /><br />The work has been temporarily halted, the Swiss news agency ATS reported.<br /><br />The project, which began in March, is aimed at finding water at a temperature of 140 degrees Celsius (285 Fahrenheit) nearly 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) below the surface to build a geothermal plant that would serve half the buildings of St Gallen.<br /><br />Geothermal drilling in late 2006 and early 2007 in northern Switzerland near Basel caused a series of earthquakes, some greater than magnitude 3, leading to the scrapping of the project to build Switzerland's first geothermal plant.<br /><br />The Swiss parliament voted in September 2011 to wind down the country's nuclear energy, unleashing a search for alternatives.<br /><br />The last of Switzerland's five nuclear reactors is to be shut down by 2034.</p>
<p>Geothermal exploration was the likely cause of a 3.6 magnitude earthquake today in northeastern Switzerland, authorities said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Further seismic activity cannot be ruled out in the region in the coming days, the seismology department of the Zurich Federal Polytechnic School (EPFZ) said in a statement.<br /><br />Experts "manually" recorded today's quake at 5:30 am (0330 GMT) at a depth of four kilometres (2.5 miles) near the city of St Gallen.<br /><br />"The quake is probably directly linked to trials and stimulation activities during the drilling involved in a geothermal project at St Gallen, where several mini-quakes have already been recorded in recent days," the EPFZ statement said.<br /><br />"The quake was widely felt in the region," it added.<br /><br />Police said no damage had been reported.<br /><br />The work has been temporarily halted, the Swiss news agency ATS reported.<br /><br />The project, which began in March, is aimed at finding water at a temperature of 140 degrees Celsius (285 Fahrenheit) nearly 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) below the surface to build a geothermal plant that would serve half the buildings of St Gallen.<br /><br />Geothermal drilling in late 2006 and early 2007 in northern Switzerland near Basel caused a series of earthquakes, some greater than magnitude 3, leading to the scrapping of the project to build Switzerland's first geothermal plant.<br /><br />The Swiss parliament voted in September 2011 to wind down the country's nuclear energy, unleashing a search for alternatives.<br /><br />The last of Switzerland's five nuclear reactors is to be shut down by 2034.</p>