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Recent seismic activity in Reno, Nevada remains unexplained. While some Reno residents wait for the next big quake, there have been a series of small earthquakes that have been varying in size just west of town. During the past week, there were more than 500 earthquakes with the largest measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale and the most recent event occurring on May Day measuring 2.0 on the Richter scale. Although the cause of this seismic activity remains a mystery, geologists have warned local residents to stock up on food and water and prepare for a larger event.
Reno, Nevada was last subjected to a large earthquake on April 24, 1914. With a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, this quake occurred along a known fault associated with the exhumation, or uprising of, the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
This current series of earthquakes have puzzled many geologists. The epicenters of the earthquakes have been rather shallow and are restrained to an isolated area where there are no presently mapped faults. There also seems to be a trend where small earthquakes precede some of the more significant seismic activity. This is just the opposite of what is normally observed. A majority of the time a single earthquake is followed by several smaller aftershocks. Some of the recent activity observed since April 25th of 2008, when the 4.7 rocked Reno, has been sporadic. The trend where smaller earthquakes precede more significant seismic activity may continue until a rather large earthquake ends this series of smaller quakes.
With the well-being of the biggest little city in the world in threat, we can at best hypothesize the cause for these recent events. Local faults in Nevada are out of the question, as the series of earthquakes map outside their boundaries. So are these shallow earthquakes the activation of an unmapped fault? Are they due to flexure of the tectonic plate as stress is building along the plate boundaries? Is this related to the mobilization of viscous fluids that could spawn a volcanic eruption? We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Resources:
http://www.seismo.unr.edu/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reno_earthquakes_of_2008
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24321836/
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Re: Earthquakes Rock Reno
