Nevada's Earthquake Swarm

From Nevada Today:

Despite its location away from major population centers, a swarm of earthquakes in the far northwest corner of Nevada is attracting attention as it continues to rumble residents this week with several magnitude 3.0 earthquakes, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake on Nov. 21 and a magnitude 4.3 on Nov. 17.

"The activity has quieted down somewhat this week, but it has had slow down periods throughout, so we are still closely monitoring the sequence," Ken Smith, seismic network manager in the University of Nevada, Reno's Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said. "The sequence, although slowing down somewhat, is still not over."

The thousands of earthquakes in the last several months is the strongest of the swarm-type sequences recorded in Nevada in recent history with its current count of 12 magnitude 4.0-plus events since it began in July.

"We've located about 1,350 earthquakes, but thousands more that are taking place just can't be located because of the small number of seismic stations in that part of the state," Smith said. "So far there have been 112 earthquakes greater than or equal to magnitude 3.0. We'd have to go back to a similar sequence near Hawthorne, Nev. in 2011 and the 2008 west Reno swarm for anything comparable."

The Nevada Seismological Lab will be collecting more data from the swarm with the installation of additional real-time seismographs completed this week. The stations are closer to the activity and will improve locating the seismic events, Smith said.

See more here: http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2014/sheldon-swarm-update