Many of us jumped to attention with news of the recent high magnitude event near Mentone, Texas (see some of our earlier blogs on the March 26 M 4.6-5.0 earthquake in the Texas Delaware basin). Interestingly, we failed to also point out there have been at least 3 series of recent U.S. based seismic events – each that climbed pretty high on the Moment Magnitude scale:
- A 6.5 M whopper near Challis, Idaho on April 1st, 2020
- A series of 4.5 – 6.5 M events in Nevada on May 15th, 2020
- A 5.7 M event near Magna, Utah on March 18th, 2020
Available research suggests each of these broad-spread, high magnitude quakes may be natural in origin.
We look forward to the expert’s analysis of natural causation as a possibility in Texas, along with other possible causes – when the dust clears!