130 earthquakes rattle Death Valley, stoking fears of the Big One

A flurry of earthquakes have rattled California’s Death Valley, raising concerns that a bigger more devastating one could be imminent.

Since October 9, 130 quakes have struck the National Park, according to USGS geophysicist Elizabeth Cochran. 

The largest ones occurred on October 25, clocking in at magnitudes 4.7 and 4.5.

The spate of tremors has not caused any damage in the park or to nearby towns and cities but the shaking has been felt 150miles away in Las Vegas.

The park’s fault system is known for its intense seismic activity, producing earthquakes up to magnitude 7.

This cluster of earthquakes, considered a ‘swarm’, aren’t necessarily unusual, but experts have raised concerns that this uptick in activity could mean a bigger quake is coming.

‘That level of shaking is something we carefully monitor, as it could significantly impact the Las Vegas valley,’ Christie Rowe, Director of the Nevada Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno, told KTNV Las Vegas.

Activity increased on October 25 when a magnitude 4.2 quake hit east of Stovepipe Wells around 12:00pm local time.

This was followed by the largest recorded event so far: a magnitude 4.7 quake that also hit east of Stovepipe Wells at approximately 1am.

Another significant event was observed at 3pm UTC on October 25, with a M4.5 earthquake located 10 km (6.2 miles) southeast of Stovepipe Wells at a depth of 4.6 km (2.9 miles).

Earthquake clusters are common in Nevada, but ‘they do increase our alert levels because sometimes a larger earthquake follows,’ Rowe said.

And when one cluster dies down, another usually isn’t far behind, she said, explaining that this pattern of activity tends to continue along the California-Nevada border or on central Nevada. 

Death Valley has a history of producing major earthquakes.

In 2019, a magnitude 7.1 tremblor struck an area just 30 miles away from this current swarm, leaving a deep crack in the ground near Ridgecrest, California, that has since become a local tourist attraction. 

A magnitude 6.4 foreshock preceded the main shock, and these massive quakes were followed by 28 quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater all in a span of five days.

The main shock was the largest earthquake to hit the area in 20 years.

Therefore, Rowe and other experts at the Nevada Seismological lab are keeping a close eye on this swarm and continue to monitor the region for new activity. 

Three main fault lines run through Death Valley: the Northern Death Valley Fault Zone (NDVFZ), the Black Mountains Fault Zone (BMFZ), and the Southern Death Valley Fault Zone (SDVFZ). 

These two states see the second and fourth most earthquakes in the US annually. 

Earthquake clusters in California often spark fears of The Big One – a hypothetical high-magnitude quake that experts say could strike at any time along the San Andreas fault. 

Such a quake would wreak havoc upon the state’s famous cities, causing roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, according to the California Earthquake Authority. 

And the San Andreas is long overdue for it.

But there’s no reason to believe that this recent swarm of earthquakes could cause instability in San Andreas fault, or that it could trigger The Big One. 

This isn’t the first notable seismic event that California has seen this year.

In early October, the state was rocked by three earthquakes in less than 24 hours. 

The largest was a 3.0 magnitude quake that hit four miles northwest of Walker at 12:33pm local time on October 2.

This was followed by a 2.9 magnitude quake struck 10 miles northeast of Barstow at 10:45am local time. And at 5:40pm, the state suffered another blow as a 2.6 magnitude hit two miles east of Pacheco.