3.8 Tremor Near Grants, New Mexico

USGS map.

Grants, New Mexico is about 35 miles east of Jamestown. It sustained an earthquake last evening.

From KRQE:

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – An earthquake was reported in New Mexico around 7 p.m. It was recorded as a 3.8 magnitude.

According to the US Geological Survey, an earthquake took place near Mount Taylor. A map coordinator showed the location is just over 20 miles northeast of Grants.

I had just gotten home about 45 minutes earlier, but I felt no shaking. 

Above, lava (right) as seen near Grants off Interstate 40. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Grants area has a history of volcanic activity with lava fields to east and south of town (from what I could see from Interstate 40). I guess this means that the faults are still active. 

To read more, go here. 

Grants, New Mexico Lava Fields

Above, pahoehoe lava flow in El Malpais National Monument. USGS photo.

When driving on Interstate 40 through Grants, New Mexico, one will see along both sides of the highway lava fields.

The area, part of the Colorado Plateau, was an active volcanic one. The El Malpais National Monument is near Grants and offers views of volcanic lava flows.

According to Wikipedia:

El Malpais National Monument is a National Monument located in western New Mexico, in the Southwestern United States. The name El Malpais is from the Spanish term Malpaís, meaning badlands, due to the extremely barren and dramatic volcanic field that covers much of the park's area.

Grants is about 47 miles east of where I live in Jamestown, New Mexico. This probably explains why I have some lava rocks on my property.

RV Travel posted an article about the lava tubes.

They begin with:

A fun and informative stop on our recent travels was the lava fields in Grants, New Mexico. The huge rocks and slabs of lava that oozed out and blew out of volcanoes 3,000 – 5,000 years ago surround the interstate.

We stopped for the night at the local KOA and, although the campground was not much different than any small town overnight-only spot, they were situated on a lava field. The park had carved out an amazing trail through the lava. Informative signs dotted the trail and we thoroughly enjoyed our hike and learning more about the volcanoes that formed the area.

If Grants holds its Wild West Days Rodeo this summer (or maybe sooner), I will see about staying at the KOA and check out its lava trail.

To read more, go here.

4.0 Earthquake Rattles Lennox-Hawthorne Areas

Image: USGS.

An early morning 4.0 earthquake hit the Lennox area of Los Angeles County this morning.

This is familiar territory as I used to live in Hawthorne and it was centered at the intersection of Doty Ave. and Century Blvd., near where the Hollywood Park Racetrack used to be and where a new NFL stadium is being built.

According to NBC Los Angeles:

A magnitude-4.0 earthquake was one of three in the same area early Monday that rattled parts of Southern California.

The quake was centered in the Lennox area. It followed earthquakes of magnitude 3.3 and 2.5 in the same part of southwest Los Angeles County.

According to CBS Los Angeles:

The large earthquake occurred at 4:44 a.m., with its epicenter at Century Boulevard and Doty Avenue, just south of SoFi Stadium and north of the 105 Freeway and east of the 405 Freeway, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It's Back To Magnitude 7.1!

If there is any needed reason to why I am glad to be out of California, the latest seismic activity in the Ridgecrest/Searles Valley area is a darn good one.

According to KTLA News about tonight's earthquake:

After a swarm of more than 1,400 earthquakes hit the Searles Valley region over the past two days, a magnitude 7.1 temblor — the biggest yet — struck Friday evening. 

The quake hit roughly 10 and a half miles from Ridgecrest at about 8:19 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey reports. After previously downgrading it a 6.9 magnitude, seismologist pushed it back up to the preliminary figure of 7.1. 

It hit at a depth of about half a mile, shallower than the 6.4 magnitude Fourth of July foreshock that was previously thought to be what seismologists call the “mainshock.” 

Shaking was felt across Southern California and as far as Las Vegas.

Thankfully, my home is built on a hill of solid bedrock, there's no chance of any liquefaction here, if we ever have an earthquake.

To read more, go here.

Bigger Quake Hits Ridgecrest

Oh-oh!

A friend just sent me a link to KSBY News website and they reported:

The USGS says a 7.1 earthquake was reported about 11 miles from the Ridgecrest area.

This quake that happened this evening may have been downgraded to 6.9 according to other news outlets.

According to SFGate:

The United States Geological Survey reports a preliminary magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck near Ridgecrest, CA on Friday. 

The quake hit at 7:19 PM local time at a depth of 0 kilometers.

Looks like the planet isn't done with Ridgecrest. 

A View Inside Kilauea Volcano

Above, a view from a Blue Hawaiian Helicopter tour of one of Kilauea's vent craters. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii's Big Island is still in eruption and the U.S. Geological Survey has flown a drone over one of the volcano's craters to get a look inside.

A four-minute video from the drone has been posted at Forbes.com.

Forbes.com reported:

The Halemaumau Crater at the summit of Kilauea Volcano has been rumbling nearly nonstop since May 3, when lava began erupting from a series of fissures in the shield volcano's nearby East Rift Zone. Subsidence, earthquakes and rockfalls are rapidly and dramatically reshaping the crater itself and this week the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory sent a drone over the crater for a closer look.

To see the video and to read more, go here. 

Mount Shasta

Above, a view of Mount Shasta along U.S. 97 north of Weed, California. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

On the way south from Oregon while en route to Lassen Volcanic National Park, I passed by another volcano in Cascade Range of volcanoes, Mount Shasta. 

From Wikipedia:

Mount Shasta (Karuk: Úytaahkoo or "White Mountain") is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, in the U.S. state of California. At an elevation of 14,179 feet (4321.8 m), it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth-highest in California. Mount Shasta has an estimated volume of 85 cubic miles (350 km3), which makes it the most voluminous stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. 

The mountain and its surrounding area are managed by the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Shasta–Trinity National Forest.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey:

Mt. Shasta is a majestic, steep-sided stratovolcano located about 97 km (60 mi) north of Redding along the I-5 corridor in Northern California. It is the most voluminous of all the Cascade Range volcanoes, and the towns of Weed, Mt Shasta City, and McCloud lie in the shadow of its 4,317 m (14,163 ft) high snow- and ice-clad edifice, which also holds the headwaters of the Upper Sacramento River. Mount Shasta began forming on the remnants of an older, similar volcano that collapsed 300,000 to 500,000 years ago. The collapse spawned one of the largest landslides known on Earth, covering more than 440 km2 (170 mi2) of Shasta Valley to the northeast. Activity over the last 300,000 years includes long intervals of quiet interrupted by shorter spans of frequent eruptions. Eruptions at about 11,000 years ago built Black Butte and Shastina on the western flanks of Mount Shasta. In the last few millennia, smaller eruptions have broken out at the volcano’s summit and from vents on its upper east flank. USGS scientists are working on constraining the age of the most recent eruption. Preliminary work indicates the volcano erupted in the past 200-300 years. Hot springs and volcanic gases seep from the summit indicating a relatively young and still-hot system. Non-volcanic shedding of young volcanic rock and ash from Mount Shasta’s steep slopes occurs during heavy rainfall or glacial floods. In the last 1,000 years, more than 70 mudflows have inundated stream channels. The record of eruptions over the last 10,000 years suggests that, on average, at least one eruption occurs every 800 to 600 years at Mt Shasta. USGS and UNAVCO seismic and geodetic networks provide real-time volcano monitoring data. Earthquake activity has been low for the last few decades and ground deformation is negligible.

Earthquakes Giving Yellowstone Area The Jitters

Above, volcanic activity occurs all over Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Last Wednesday, a 5.8 earthquake struck the state of Montana, raising fears in some that the super volcano known as Yellowstone National Park is set to blow anytime soon.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Star:

The epicentre of the tremor was just 240 miles away from Yellowstone Park – the site of a dormant supervolcano with destructive potential. 

Panicked residents of Montana feared the worst when the quake struck, with concerns over the stability of the Yellowstone volcano. 

But the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the volcano is not due to erupt anytime soon. 

Nontheless locals were freaking out on Twitter.

A spokesperson for USGS said: “The location and focal mechanism solution of this earthquake are consistent with right-lateral faulting in association with faults of the Lewis and Clark line, a prominent zone of strike-slip, dip slip and oblique slip faulting trending east-southeast from northern Idaho to east of Helena, Montana, southeast of this earthquake.” 

The huge quake came just weeks after a swarm of around 900 smaller earthquakes rocked the region. 

A massive basin of lava that lurks beneath Yellowstone National Park was hit by the flurry of seismic activity in June.

Meanwhile, Montana Public Radio says the seismic activities in the region is no cause for panic.

Yellowstone National Park took to Facebook today to tamp down ongoing speculation that a cataclysmic seismic event is imminent. 

Jeff Hungerford is the park’s chief geologist and volcanologist.

Sitting in front of Mammoth Hot Springs, Hungerford told his Facebook Live audience the Yellowstone region’s recent earthquake swarm is perfectly normal: 

“They can make up about 50-percent of our earthquakes that we have yearly," Hungerford said. "It happens all the time. It’s why we’re here. Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful, wonderful place because it is an active area.”

To read more, go here.

Yellowstone Earthquakes Revive Eruption Fears

Above, the Clepsydra Geyser. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Yellowstone National Park has been experiencing a "swarm" of earthquakes in the northwest areas of the park this past week.

According to the Daily Star (U.K.):

A 4.5 magnitude shaker struck Yellowstone Magnitude Park on Thursday, according to data from the US Geological Survey. 

Earthquakes in the area are not rare – with 1,500 to 2,000 hitting the area every year – but the latest incident was the only one this year reported by USGS. 

Scientists say Thursday’s earthquake was part of the swarm hitting the area since Monday. 

Yellowstone volcano, located in the US state of Wyoming, is one of the most feared on the planet and described as a “ticking time bomb” – with various scientists claiming its eruption could be catastrophic. 

Experts have long claimed the so-called “super volcano” could wipe out the entire planet.

To read more, go here.

And, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

The small earthquake that struck Yellowstone National Park on Thursday night was part of a swarm that has been hitting the area since Monday, scientists say. 

The quake was centered near West Yellowstone, but was also felt by people in Gardiner and Bozeman. 

“As of 10 a.m. this morning we had located a total of 235 earthquakes in the area,” said Jamie Farrell, University of Utah research professor of seismology. 

Yellowstone gets about 1,500 to 2,000 earthquakes every year. About half of those come in earthquake swarms — lots of earthquakes in a small area in a short amount of time.

To read more, go here. 

Senior Citizens Get $10 Lifetime National Park Pass (For Now)

Above, Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This had been mentioned here before, but time is running out for the $10.00 price tag of the senior citizen lifetime National Park Pass.

According to CBS Tampa Bay:

CBS Local — If you’re an American citizen who’s been on this earth for 62 years or more, love both national parks and outrageous deals, well, you’re in luck: you can get a lifetime National Park Pass for just $10. 

It sounds too good to be true to the untrained eye, but this is no sham. The U.S. Geological Survey advertises the pass that gets owners of the pass into any of their more than 2,000 recreational sites. After the $10 fee, you need not spend another dime. Follow this link for the application. 

The caveat, and it’s a textbook use of the scarcity sales technique, is that this price will jump to $80 soon– the USGS  just haven’t announced when that’ll happen yet.

I bought mine last year when I hit that "magic number" of 62 and have saved money ever since. Normal admission into Yosemite National Park: Private Passenger Autos (this includes RVs): $30.00; Motorcycles: $20.00; Individuals (bicyclists and tour groups): $15.00.

Above, Yosemite South Entrance. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

So, the time is now (if you are 62 and older) to get your Senior Pass. So get it while you can for $10.00. (Even at $80.00, it is still a bargain.)

To read more, go here.

Senior Park Pass Kit

One nice thing about becoming a baby-boomer geezer is that I now qualify for the lifetime National Park Service Senior Park Pass.

The Senior Park Pass comes as a kit. The pass itself is only $10.00, but when ordered, the total amount is $20.00 (which includes the processing fee).

Above, the General Grant tree at Sequoia National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since I have reached the tender age of 62, I now qualify for the Senior Park Pass Kit. I ordered it through the United States Government Survey website.

The kit includes:

America The Beautiful - The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Senior Pass (kit, includes brochure & hangtag). The Pass will have the Customer Name Printed on it.

To provide proof of eligibility, that is, a document that proves your age, etc. has to be included with the order. A photo of your driver's license or passport would do the trick. It can be uploaded with the application. It was actually an easy process.

To order the 2016 Senior Park Pass Kit, go here.

Tokyo Area Rattled By 5.6 Quake

Map: USGS

A M5.6 earthquake hit the Tokyo area at 12:38 p.m. It was centered in the Iwai area.

This is from the USGS:

5.6 2km WNW of Iwai, Japan 2014-09-15 20:28:31 UTC-07:00 53.9 km

UPDATE: No major damage was reported and no tsunami warnings issued.