Comments on Looking For Detachment: Is Water Lubricating a Mogul, NV Fault?

The Wells earthquake occurred on February 22; the ...

2008-05-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Wells earthquake occurred on February 22; the Mogul swarm began on February 28. There is a very good plot of time v. cumulative number of quakes at Mogul here showing a number of "jumps" in seismicity - the first small increase being 10 days after swarm onset, another big "jump" about 48 days after Feb. 28th, a third increase about 57 days after onset, and a fourth small increase in quakes about 63 days after onset of the swarm. (Unfortunately, they don't plot the actual dates, and I'm not going to add those up!)

I wasn't at the meeting, so I'm not sure what was said, what was implied or not implied, and what was interpreted by listeners. Wells is a long way from Mogul. When I have time, I'll check in with the NBMG and see what they think.

BTW, I have been through Manhattan and Round Mountain quite a number of times. I worked near Northumberland in the late 70's - early 80's when they were just drilling out the gold deposit on Northumberland Pass. Sounds like you've worked in some interesting places!

Stay prepared!

Sooo, I spoke with a resident of "Somersett" today...

2008-05-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I spoke with a resident of "Somersett" today. I guess they recently had a town hall meeting with a Geologist(s) from UNR that lives there in Somersett/Mogul.Long story short the swarm in Mogul immediately preceded the activity in Wells.
This appears to be a Great Basin seismic event if you ask me or them...

BTW do you live in Manhattan, one of your pics and caption led me to believe that. I lived in Round Mountain and Tonopah for 18 longs years, worked at Cyrpus Tonopah, Western State Northumberland and build leach pads at RMGC ugh.

steve, most geologists would not think that the Mo...

2008-05-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

steve, most geologists would not think that the Mogul/Reno, the Wells, and the Oregon earthquakes are directly related. The whole state of Nevada including Reno, however, is in a tectonically active area. So it's definitely wise to know the basics of earthquake preparedness - and the Nevada Bureua of Mines and Geology has some information here along with several free downloads.

Remember, don't panic, just be prepared and informed.

Wow! Thanks for this great discussion! I live in s...

2008-05-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wow! Thanks for this great discussion! I live in south west Reno with my wife and children and this has us quite concerned. we felt the 4.7 a couple of the 3s and even 2 of the 1.5s. I guess that all depends on the shake.
The thing that concerns me is the relation to the Wells event and continuing seismic activity around the state and swarm off of Oregon. At times I have felt silly starting the earthquake preparation but you just don't know. What we do know is that there has been sizable activity in the past.

Thanks again, Steve

It does, indeed. Thanks for finding those referenc...

2008-04-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

It does, indeed. Thanks for finding those references, maybe I can pass them on to those who are concerned in the Mogul/Reno area.

a quick search on google let me find these two art...

2008-04-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

a quick search on google let me find these two articles:

Evidence for rainfall-triggered earthquake activity“, S. Hainzl, T. Kraft, J. Wassermann, H. Igel, and E. Schmedes, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, Oktober 2006

„Meteorological triggering of earthquake swarms at Mt. Hochstaufen, SE-Germany”, T. Kraft, J. Wassermann, E. Schmedes, H. Igel, Tectonophysics, Juni 2006

I didn't read them but it sounds what you are talking about.

What you write sounds not at all implausible. On t...

2008-04-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

What you write sounds not at all implausible. On the contrary I think it may well be the case. We have a similiar case in southern Germany in the region of Berchtesgarden and Bad Reichenhall if my memory not fails me. Locals and geologists had been wondering for long about the odd correlation between rainy times and earth activity. Turns out that one of the local mountains is cross-cut by deep faults. If rain continues for more than a week there is enough liquid to lubricate these normally dry faults and the mountain itselfs starts rumbling. The result is usually very shallow earthquakes that can be strong enough to wake up light sleepers and can definitly felt by anyone awake. Glady so far they never caused any mentionable damage.