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Nevada Earthquake Swarm Increases Chance of Larger Quake

Posted by samzenpus on from the whole-lot-of-shaking-going-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes Hundreds of small earthquakes have been gaining in strength in northwestern Nevada. The Nevada region bordering California and Oregon was hit by 18 quakes in less than 24 hours, with magnitudes measuring from 2.7 to 4.5. According to CNN: "This does not necessarily mean a big one will come, state seismologists said, but they added that it's good to be prepared, just in case. Seismologists refer to such quake groupings as swarms, and the U.S. Geological Survey has detected them regularly. They can produce thousands of small tremors."

10 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. hm... by notequinoxe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sounds like fracking to me....

    1. Re:hm... by RevGregory · · Score: 4, Informative

      One would think that the quakes would be on the faults where the fracking sites in Nevada are rather than a completely unrelated set of faults 400 miles away where they aren't.

    2. Re:hm... by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sounds like fracking to me....

      Given that fracking was illegal in Nevada until about a month ago, I'd say you're wrong.

    3. Re:hm... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Funny

      I blame plumbers everywhere.

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  2. SubjectsInCommentsAreStupid by lesincompetent · · Score: 4, Informative

    L'Aquila, Italy, 2009.
    Mistakes must not be repeated.

  3. Re:Preferable to Rarer, Larger Quakes by dtmos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Having been in all three (well, I wasn't exactly inside the tornado, but it was much too close for comfort), I agree that the earthquake is the choice of the lot -- if one has to be in one of the three.

    However, if the question is, "Which would you rather live in -- an earthquake-, tornado-, or hurricane-prone area?", my answer would be the hurricane-prone area, because these days they're by far the most predictable and, therefore, escapable. I'm comforted by the fact that should one appear, I will have enough warning to be elsewhere when it hits. It's a lot harder to say that about tornadoes and earthquakes.

  4. OBVIOUSLY by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Yucca deposit has "attracted" Something that is slowly burrowing it's way through the Earth towards it.

  5. Yellowstone hotspot/McDonalds/Impact Crater by __aapopf3474 · · Score: 3, Funny

    The area is near where the Yellowstone hotspot was over 16 million years ago.

    Also, this area was the furthest from a McDonalds in 2010.

    South of the swarm area, in the Black Rock Desert, was a suspected impact crater.

    Sounds like the start of a bad horror movie.

    1. Re:Yellowstone hotspot/McDonalds/Impact Crater by eyepeepackets · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Glad to see someone else made the connection between this location and the Yellowstone hotspot. In terms of geologic time, this entire area is really "hot" and prone to large events of various types. Having a concentrated earthquake swarm in this area is worrying, especially since I live in Boise....

      I was living in Portland during the whole Mt. St. Helens cycle in the late '70s/early '80s and the only adult nightmares I've ever had involve geologic events: It's hard to fully appreciate such things until you've experienced them.

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  6. The govt dept full of evil villains. by CODiNE · · Score: 3, Funny

    the U.S. Geological Survey has detected them regularly. They can produce thousands of small tremors."

    The USGS is not one to be messed with.

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