Geoscience Australia is reporting a magnitude 3.9 earthquake stuck off the coast of Cairns on Sunday afternoon.
The quake was at a depth of 10 kilometres, about 50 kilometres east of the city in Far North Queensland.
Senior Seismologist Hadi Ghasemi said "it was an off-shore, small, shallow earthquake".
Despite only being small, Dr Ghasemi said the quake was "widely felt".
"We have received more than 100 field reports from the coastal regions between Cairns and Townsville," he said.
Dr Ghasemi said the risks posed by aftershocks are low.
"By definition, they have a magnitude much lower than the main shock itself," he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology said there was no threat of a tsunami.
