Magnitude-2.8 earthquake rattles shelves, wakes Barossa residents up

Barossa Valley residents have awoken to the rumble of a magnitude-2.8 earthquake overnight.

The earthquake was recorded at 2:26am on Monday, with nearly 250 reports were received by Geoscience Australia.

The quake was located at Stone Well, on the outskirts of Tanunda, about 55 kilometres north-east of Adelaide.

Geoscience Australia seismologist Tania Page told 891 ABC Adelaide an earthquake of this size would cause "maybe two or three seconds of shaking". 

"Most of the reports are around Tanunda and Nuriootpa," Ms Page said.

"People are reporting rattling shelves, a lot of noise, so earthquakes of this size tend to just sound like a thunder, or a truck going past, or a smaller explosion even."

Mark, a resident of Nuriootpa, described the tremor as "pretty powerful, it was very bass-like".

"At first I thought it was thunder," he said.

"It woke me up straight away, and my little cat who sleeps on the end of our bed, she was up for a while.

"I reckon it was about three seconds, maybe more."

According to Geoscience Australia, earthquakes with magnitudes of less than 3.5 "seldom cause damage".