The State - News from Nov. 22, 1985

An earthquake could touch off an eruption of the dormant volcano slumbering under the popular ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes, according to a report released by researchers of the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Nevada, Reno. Although there is no sign of any imminent threat, the report said, a major temblor on the Hilton Creek Fault could crack the ground to allow such an eruption in Long Valley, an oval-shaped 10-mile-by-20-mile volcanic crater 200 miles east of San Francisco. The Mammoth Lakes area is inside the rim of the crater. The scientists said that an eruption could occur with few advance warning signs--but said that it would be somewhat surprising since nothing like that has happened in 11,000 years.