Sound The Trumpet : Earthquake Swarm Near Lakeview: 'Slight' Increase in Likelihood of Larger Quake, Scientists Say

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“Earthquake Swarm Near Lakeview: 'Slight' Increase in Likelihood of Larger Quake, Scientists Say”
by Oregon Live
November 8th, 2014

Seismologists in Nevada, Oregon and California continue to monitor an intense swarm of earthquakes about 40 miles southeast of Lakeview, Oregon, in the Nevada desert.

The magnitude 4.6 temblor late Tuesday night was followed by several quakes or magnitude 3 or greater, officials said. The area is so remote only four people reported feeling Tuesday's earthquake.

Scientists with the Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries said there have been earthquakes of magnitude 4 or greater in the same area in the past week, and 42 quakes greater than magnitude 3 in the past three months.

Officials say all told, there have been 719 earthquakes in the area, mostly magnitude 2 to 3, since mid-July.

Does the swarm of earthquakes signal that a larger, more damaging quake is in the offing?

Using historic data as a model, DOGAMI scientists said the swarm of quakes does slightly increase the likelihood of a larger earthquake.

Earthquakes can happen anytime," Oregon state Geologist Vicki S. McConnell said. "Planning and preparing now helps you be ready."

The quakes are occurring in an area of north Washoe County in Nevada that's not only remote, but also contains a sparse network of automated monitors. Those add to the difficulty of tracking seismic activity, Dr. Ken Smith of the Nevada Seismology Laboratory told The Oregonian in August.

As a result of the monitors' remote locations, Smith said, seismologists must manually check computer data, which takes more time.

"We are locating as many as we can locate," Smith said, "and trying to get ahead of them."

Smith said the Great Basin area where the swarm is occurring is crisscrossed by fault lines. In 1968, a swarm of earthquakes near Adel, 30 miles east of Lakeview, included three earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.

Nevada quake specialists said the Adel quakes caused moderate damage. A similar swarm to Adel and the recent spate of temblors also resembles the "Mogul-Somersett" swarm in west Reno in 2008. That swarm included a magnitude 5 quake that also caused moderate damage.

According to the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Nevada includes "one of the most seismically active regions in the United States. Along with California and Alaska, Nevada ranks in the top three states subject to the most large earthquakes over the last 150 years."

At 6:16 a.m. Feb. 21, 2008, a magnitude 6 quake near Wells, Nevada, injured three people, heavily damaged 20 buildings and damaged another 700 structures.

According to the USGS, Nevada experienced a significant round of major quakes between between 1915 and 1954, finishing with magnitude 6.6 and 7.1 earthquakes in 1954. The area where the sequence of earthquakes occurred was named the Central Nevada Seismic Belt.

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