3 Moderate Quakes Rattle Mammoth Lakes Amid Seismic Activity of 50 Jolts an Hour

Three moderate earthquakes rattled this ski resort town Saturday as the latest seismic activity to hit the region caused an average of 50 quakes an hour but no damage or injuries.

Twenty temblors had a 3.0 magnitude or above. The three strongest ranged from a magnitude 4.5 to 4.8, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

“Yesterday, it looked like it was dying down, although since about 4:06 this morning the swarms seem to have intensified again,” Dale Cox, a U.S. Geological Survey spokesman in Sacramento, said Saturday. “What this means at this point, we’re not sure.”

A 4.7 magnitude quake at 10:10 a.m. was preceded by a 4.8 quake at 9:20 a.m. and a 4.5 quake at 4:06 a.m., Cox said.

The third tremor was centered two miles southeast of Mammoth Lakes. The two earlier ones were concentrated about three miles east-southeast of Mammoth Lakes, which is 215 miles northeast of Los Angeles.