California Volcanoes Were 'Rattled' by Earthquake
Volcanoes in California were "rattled" by the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that shook the north of the state earlier this week, scientists said.
The earthquake occurred 7.5 miles southwest of Ferndale, a small community in Humboldt County, at 2:34 a.m. on Tuesday. It plunged more than 70,000 residents into darkness as power outages swept across the region. At least two people died and a dozen more were injured.
The earthquake also rattled the state's volcanoes, the United States Geological Survey Volcanoes said in a statement. Aftershocks are also continuing to spread to the volcanoes.
"But don't worry—there's been no unusual volcanic activity as a result," the USGS stated.
So far, all volcanoes in California are showing "normal background earthquake activity and ground movement" following the earthquake.
Volcanic activity can often be the reason for regional earthquakes. But California is full of fault lines, meaning it is especially prone to fault-related earthquakes. The area where the most recent earthquake occurred lies near the Cascadia subduction fault—where the United States sits right over the ocean floor—meaning this area is especially prone to earthquakes.
The earthquake and subsequent aftershocks should not trigger any eruptive activity, according to USGS Volcanoes.
"Only very very rarely do earthquakes trigger eruptive activity at a nearby volcano. Basically the volcano has to be about ready to erupt anyway for that to happen," the USGS said in a Facebook comment.
At the Clear Lake Volcanic Field, in California's northern Coast Ranges, two small earthquakes were reported, the largest being a magnitude of 1.2. At the Geyser located south of there, 118 earthquakes were recorded, the largest with a 2.7 magnitude.
A magnitude 1.8 earthquake also rattled Mammoth Mountain, in the Inyo National Forest, while a magnitude 2.3 earthquake shook Salton Buttes.
Other volcanoes monitored following the earthquake include Mount Shasta, Medicine Lake Volcano, Lassen Volcanic Center, Long Valley Volcanic Region, Coso Volcanic Field, and Ubehebe Craters.
The USGS said the earthquake and its aftershocks are showing up "beautifully" on its monitoring technology They are continuing to monitor helicorder records and spectrograms to asses how the shaking manifests across distances.
The earthquake reached Shasta and Lassen at nearly the same time, but with fewer high frequencies the farther it traveled, according to the USGS.
Meanwhile, it reached Long Valley a "few moments later with much of the high-frequency signal missing completely."
"This is a common phenomenon with earthquakes that travel long distances—for example, our stations might only register the very lowest-frequency signals from a large earthquake that happens in Japan or Chile," the USGS said.
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