Off The Record
Nevada Trembles As Dozens Of Earthquakes Strike In Swarm
Since 8 a.m. ET, four earthquakes have struck Nevada, the biggest of which had a magnitude of 4.0.
Valmy, located roughly 200 miles southwest of Reno, was struck by the swarm on Monday.
Within the next week, there is a 27 percent risk that another earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or higher will occur, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Additionally, the likelihood of a magnitude of 4.0 or above is 5%.
According to the Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Reno, the 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck around 12:28 p.m. ET, approximately 50 miles northwest of Carlin, 71 miles east and northeast of Winnemucca, and 32 miles north of Battle Mountain.
After California and Alaska, Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the country.
The Central Nevada Seismic Belt and the Fairview Peak-Dixie Valley Fault Scarps are two of the active fault lines that surround Valmy.
Additionally, the small hamlet is situated along the Pleasant Valley fault, which has the potential to produce earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7.
At 8:03 a.m. ET, the USGS recorded the first earthquake, which had a magnitude of 3.4.
At 12:24 pm, a second 2.6 magnitude earthquake occurred, and four minutes later, a 4.0 magnitude earthquake was discovered.
At 1:29 PM ET, the fourth earthquake, with a magnitude of 2.9, was recorded.
Although hundreds of people would be affected by a swarm like this, the epicenter is in the sparsely populated Great Basin.
There were just three reports of local shaking to USGS. But those people reported experiencing “strong shaking.”
This region experiences active crustal stretching, fault movements, and sporadic deep fluid activity because it is a portion of the Basin.
Additionally, the area has mining that has the potential to cause earthquakes.
The Twin Creeks Mine and Turquoise Ridge Mine, two sizable gold-producing operations run by large mining corporations, are located in Valmy.
Large-scale excavation, blasting, and material processing are all part of these processes, which can change the distribution of stress in the Earth’s crust and perhaps cause earthquakes or swarms to occur nearby.
In February, an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.8 struck Nevada’s Area 51.
According to the USGS, the earthquake occurred 32 miles southeast of Beatty, which is roughly 60 miles away from the enigmatic military installation.
Due to decades of conspiracy theories linking the site to UFOs, aliens, and experimental aircraft testing, Area 51 has become a cultural phenomena.
On December 9, 2024, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 rocked northern Nevada.
It was the biggest since the Monte Cristo Range was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 6.5 on May 15, 2020.
According to Shakeout, thousands of microearthquakes occur in Nevada annually.
“Earthquakes in Western Nevada are caused by the extension that is pulling Nevada apart and wrenching created as the Sierra Nevada is pulled to the north because it is caught up in the Pacific-North America plate motion,” the site explains.
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