Series of Quakes Hits Mammoth; Strongest Temblor Measures 5.1

After six months of relative quiet, moderately strong seismic activity has resumed in the Mammoth Lakes area of the Eastern Sierra with a series of earthquakes late Monday night and early Tuesday, the strongest registering magnitude 5.1.

No damage or injuries were reported from the temblors, centered 11 miles southeast of Mammoth Lakes. The chief volcanic monitor of the area for the U.S. Geological Survey said the latest quakes were probably not volcanically related.

The monitor, David Hill, said that the quakes were not accompanied by any significant ground deformation and that he saw no risk of an eruption soon. Accordingly, Hill did not change the volcanic status of the vicinity from its customary “green” of no immediate risk.

“This seems to be more closely related to [earthquake] than [volcanic] activity,” Hill said in an advisory issued shortly after the strongest jolt struck at 10:24 p.m. Monday.

Other quakes in the series included a 3.3 at 10:27 p.m. Monday, 3.0 at 1:29 a.m. Tuesday, 3.8 at 1:45 a.m., 3.0 at 6:24 a.m. and 3.9 at 6:30 a.m. All were in the same general area.

Hill said the upsurge in seismic activity, the first since thousands of earthquakes believed to be volcanically related hit the area just east of Mammoth Lakes from last June through December, began on Sunday night with a magnitude 4.0 quake.

Scientists have said that an eruption in the Mammoth area will eventually occur, but could be decades or even centuries away.