Cluster of tiny quakes shakes Mammoth Lakes area
A cluster of tiny earthquakes has been rumbling through the Mammoth Lakes area, with two of magnitude 3.0 and 3.3 striking early Thursday.
The magnitude 3.3 quake occurred at 1:13 a.m. and the 3.0 at 7:11 a.m. about 10 miles southeast of town, according to a monitoring system run by the U.S. Geological Survey and UC Berkeley. In the last week, more than 15 other quakes have shaken the area, ranging in magnitude from 0.2 to 1.9.
“It’s not a big deal,” Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton said. “That’s another swarm area.”
The area had a “great deal” of seismic activity in the 1980s, but quieted down, Hutton said. “Like the rest of the seismic activity, it comes and goes,” she said. “It’s unpredictable.”
No damage has been reported in the area, said Tom Heller, duty chief at the Mammoth Lakes Fire Department.
“A 3.0 doesn’t even begin to creak the house, so we don’t know it’s happening,” he said. “We had a little wind overnight and people probably wouldn’t differentiate a 3.0 earthquake and the wind blowing.”
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