A swarm of small earthquakes hit desert communities near the Salton Sea Wednesday afternoon.
The biggest earthquake that has been recorded in the swarm so far was a magnitude 4.9, which hit at 5.31 p.m. local time on September 30, but bigger quakes are a possibility.
"In a typical week, there is approximately a three in 10,000 chance of a magnitude 7+ earthquake in the vicinity of this swarm,' the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said in a statement. "During this earthquake swarm, the probability of larger earthquakes in this region is significantly greater than usual. Currently, the swarm is rapidly evolving, and we expect to update this forecast with more specific probability information as we collect more data."
The quakes were centered near Westmorland in the Imperial Valley, just southeast of the Salton Sea. That's roughly 180-200 miles southeast of Los Angeles and about 30 miles north of the Mexico border.
By 8 p.m. the USGS had recorded at least 240 quakes, with the largest hitting a magnitude of 4.9 at 5:31 p.m.
Seismologist Lucy Jones said the quakes are happening in the Brawley Seismic Zone, a network of small faults that connect the San Andreas and Imperial faults.
Historically, she said, the largest quake in that zone measured 5.8.
She said the zone is a common source of swarms and far enough from the San Andreas fault so that a quake closer to the Los Angeles area is not any more likely.
An #earthquake swarm has kicked off southwest of the #SaltonSea today, producing 240 earthquakes as of 8pm Pacific. The largest earlier this evening was M4.9.
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) October 1, 2020
So what does this mean? We’ve put together some scenarios to explain what could happen next. https://t.co/wMzKa8FKQM pic.twitter.com/ow9r7J5FH4
DANGEROUS swarm of 131 earthquakes hitting near the Salton Sea (including 5.1 and 4.4 and 4.0 quakes) - 40 HOUR WARNING: 6.0 to 6.5 earthquake is likely in the San Francisco Bay or near the Salton Sea during the next 40 hours - https://t.co/Jy5p5TwCyn pic.twitter.com/Fpc70LJ1J7
— EarthquakePrediction (@Quakeprediction) October 1, 2020
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