Thursday, April 15, 2010

Quakes!

Magnitude 4.9 earthquake in Utah.

Northern Utah on the UT-WY border. Felt reports coming into the USGS are currently from as far south as American Fork, UT and as far west as the Great Salt Lake. This isn't a major one, and no idea of any damage yet. It's of interest because it's an intraplate earthquake, despite it being not-unexpected because of its location in the far-east end of the Basin and Range Province.

A group called Earthscope was hopefully able to pick up some good data from this quake. I mention them specifically because they held a small conference on campus earlier this week. Regrettably, I was only able to attend one session - it was absolutely fascinating! The discussions on seismology and tectonic work, as well as their goal of setting up a high-res seismic array in North America is a fascinating listen. I can't even imagine what such a network will do for tomography underneath the North American Plate.

In other news, was on a field trip last weekend and am leaving for another tomorrow at noon. St. Francois Mountains or bust!