[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250" caption="The U.S. Geological Services reports 21 earthquakes an hour north of Greene County in the past week."][/caption]The U.S. Geological Service reports 21 earthquakes in the past week near Altamont, NY, about an hour north of Greene County, none greater than a 2.9 magnitude. The 2.9 magnitude quake Saturday caused Governor Andrew Cuomo to have the Gilboa Dam in Schoharie County inspected just before the storms from Hurricane Irene hit the area. All the reported quakes -- which might qualify as an "earthquake swarm" -- came within four miles of Altamont. Two of the first earthqaukes in Altamont came the same morning as the 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Virginia that was felt in Greene and Columbia counties, last Tue. Aug. 22. As far as we can tell, none of the Altamont quakes were strong enough to be noticed locally. The last reported quake was Sun. Aug. 28 at 9:20 a.m.[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="701" caption="A USGS map, from the The Earth Institute at Columbia University website."][/caption]