Swarm of small earthquakes shakes southeast California desert.
NILAND, Calif. - Dozens of small earthquakes up to magnitude 4.6 shook the desert of southeast California on Wednesday. The largest temblor occurred at 3:47 p.m. and was centered in the Obsidian Butte area of Imperial County, about 100 miles east of San Diego, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Oops! Where I'm headed soon. Hopefully it's stress relief rather than buildup.
Posted by: clintcarter | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 01:06 AM
This is quite odd - glad someone else noticed. I'm subscribed to the USGS email alert system for quakes in So Cal 3.0 mag or greater, and have been for at least 4 years. The most alerts I've ever seen in one day is 3; today there were 8 alerts total from Obsidian and environs. Yes, this is a swarm, but a very strange and extreme swarm. Wish I knew what it could mean.
Posted by: Patricia LJ | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 01:09 AM
Revision on the previous post. The 8 count was from my deleted folder; just noticed 3 more in inbox making the total in the last few hours 11 quakes in the Obsidian area. Odd.
Posted by: Patricia LJ | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 01:16 AM
Pat LJ, do you mean no more than 3 over 3.0 including aftershocks? I mean, multiple littles is better than 1 big one, but your point is alarming.
Posted by: clintcarter | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 01:33 AM
http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0_fault.htm
It appears that there have been several, over 20, 30, or more micro earthquakes with minor earthquakes in between. WOW I did not know this. Am I reading the data on the above website correctly?
Posted by: dc | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 07:22 AM
Thanks for giving CA some deserved consideration Dan.
The earthquakes are small by local standards, non-eventful. Nowhere near the destructive power of a hurricane. What is alarming is the frequency. We've been getting them all summer and there's a lot of activity up the line towards the NW too. Japan has had some really BIG ones lately. An explanation I've heard (which means nothing LOL) is that the earth's axis is going thru an adjustment.
Earthquakes don't frighten me, I just bought insurance ; ) ........ I DO live within the 10 mile radius of a potential nuclear target kill zone, though......that scares me a lot more than nature. I am reluctantly a lot more sensitive to global politics now, and just when it I thought it was safe to come out from under my desk..........
Posted by: callmeBetty | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 11:34 AM
Thanks Dan for news on Ca. Being born and raised in OC, Ca. I know that you never get used to earthquakes. Californians have always heard of the big one coming and I do believe it will happen in the next couple of years. The little tremors they have been having thankfully have been in less populated areas, therefore no damage. I still remember how after each big earthquake I would sleep fully dressed with my shoes right next to the bed for a week and it would take about that long for my nerves to settle down. I was so relieved when we moved last year to Maine. I just hope when the big one comes all my family will be able to get out and come up here with me.
Posted by: faithfulreader | Thursday, September 01, 2005 at 12:44 PM
Hi Clintcarter - Sorry didn't catch your post last night. The USGS alerts don't differentiate between primary quakes and aftershocks; they are generated based on magnitude and location selected, and no other parameters are available to choose from. As a memory check, I looked at the deleted files that are resident on laptop, everything from Jan 2005 on (the rest is on a hard drive unaccessible right now). In fact, although there have been days with 3 or 4 3.0 or greater quakes in So Cal, there has not been any day with more than two 3.0+ quakes in a given area.
I follow the quakes because my firm has several bldgs built on the end of the Rose Canyon fault line, and one of them has biohazard level 4 labs (live HIV). Since I dearly need something to obsess about, and this is it.
BTW, the Obsidian area was quiet during the day today, then between 7:46 PM and 8:55 PM there were 7 quakes, ranging from 3.3 to 3.7. Go figure.
Posted by: Patricia LJ | Friday, September 02, 2005 at 01:36 AM
Thanks.
I had since come across a graph and had a better picture of the events.
So the 5.1 Dan refers was somewhere else?
Hopefully a stutter step like this is relief rather than build-up?
Posted by: clintcarter | Friday, September 02, 2005 at 02:33 PM
Angela Rhudy resident of Niland Cal. is furious and devistated what must she do.
Posted by: Casey | Friday, September 22, 2006 at 06:12 PM