Felt at my location in Northern CA, details follow
5.7 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 20:47:07-07:00
About 40 miles away from me.
Map: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc71996911#summary
Whole cluster of quakes near Lake Almanor, odd.
12 quakes in that area last hour ranging from 2.5 to 5.7. 44 total if including lower than 2.5 magnitude Wonder if this is related to Mt. Lassen magma pool? Mt. Lassen is just 30mi to NW.
49 quakes now, note distance from cluster to Mt. Lassen. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
- 3.0 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:46:56-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.0 7km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:43:37-07:00 3.1 km deep
- 2.9 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:39:43-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 1.9 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:37:21-07:00 9.7 km deep
- 2.0 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:28:26-07:00 8.8 km deep
- 1.9 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:27:16-07:00 2.5 km deep
- 3.1 13km SSW of Westwood, California 2013-05-23 22:24:42-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.3 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:23:26-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 2.4 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:19:34-07:00 0.9 km deep
- 2.9 9km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:18:23-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.7 7km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:13:46-07:00 2.5 km deep
- 1.9 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:12:31-07:00 2.5 km deep
- 2.9 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:09:13-07:00 0.1 km deep
- 1.8 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:08:26-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.7 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:06:15-07:00 0.2 km deep
- 3.6 8km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 22:01:55-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 3.5 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:58:57-07:00 0.1 km deep
- 3.4 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:58:08-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.1 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:56:30-07:00 10.5 km deep
- 0.0 12km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:53:13-07:00 12.0 km deep
- 2.0 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:52:24-07:00 7.2 km deep
- 2.2 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:49:49-07:00 0.2 km deep
- 0.0 13km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:45:52-07:00 4.1 km deep
- 2.8 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:44:42-07:00 0.1 km deep
- 2.7 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:40:30-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 1.8 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:35:03-07:00 7.0 km deep
- 2.1 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:34:22-07:00 2.5 km deep
- 2.2 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:34:00-07:00 6.2 km deep
- 2.4 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:32:56-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 1.7 9km SW of Westwood, California 2013-05-23 21:32:24-07:00 5.0 km deep
- 2.0 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:31:04-07:00 0.8 km deep
- 2.7 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:29:42-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.5 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:28:31-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 1.8 9km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:27:38-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.6 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:25:19-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.0 12km SSW of Westwood, California 2013-05-23 21:24:43-07:00 1.7 km deep
- 2.3 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:24:01-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 2.6 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:23:40-07:00 5.1 km deep
- 0.0 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:23:06-07:00 6.9 km deep
- 2.0 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:21:52-07:00 0.1 km deep
- 2.0 12km SSW of Westwood, California 2013-05-23 21:21:11-07:00 0.5 km deep
- 2.2 9km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:18:31-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 2.2 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:18:10-07:00 4.0 km deep
- 1.8 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:16:32-07:00 17.6 km deep
- 2.3 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:15:15-07:00 0.2 km deep
- 2.4 13km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:10:24-07:00 0.7 km deep
- 2.8 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:09:15-07:00 1.3 km deep
- 3.4 15km SE of Chester, California 2013-05-23 21:08:21-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.6 12km SSW of Westwood, California 2013-05-23 21:07:44-07:00 1.6 km deep
- 2.0 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:07:22-07:00 2.5 km deep
- 2.6 10km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:04:09-07:00 1.6 km deep
- 2.1 9km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 21:01:41-07:00 0.7 km deep
- 3.5 10km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 20:55:30-07:00 0.0 km deep
- 2.2 9km NW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 20:55:11-07:00 3.4 km deep
- 5.7 11km WNW of Greenville, California 2013-05-23 20:47:08-07:00 11.0 km deep
- 1.9 12km ENE of East Quincy, California 2013-05-23 04:17:24-07:00 1.5 km deep
Quakes are “good” IMO, scary sheesh yeah, lived in New Zealand, been tossed out of bed due to the “shakes”. It makes us realise that “we” are insignificant in the grand scheme of “things”.
I used to own a cabin on Lake Almanor on the peninsula. The quake looks to be centered at the eastern end of the lake at the inlet. For folks in NorCal who have never visited it or hiked up Lassen ( Hell’s kitchen is fanatastic) I’d suggest waiting a bit before visiting, but its a lovely place.
Jim G says:
May 24, 2013 at 7:19 am
“e.g. here is earthquake activity with respect to the Moon”
Do you have a similar chart for Earth orbit around the Sun? Interesting.
Actually, not very interesting as there is no observed effect. Or it is, at least, completely drowned out by the clear annual effect due to variation of snow cover and groundwater recharging.
Joseph A Olson says:
May 23, 2013 at 10:28 pm
“An area caller on the Coast-to-Coast AM said that an over-sized load side impacted the Skagit bridge structure. ………… Astrophysicist, Dr Piers Corbyn has a hypothesis on solar/tectonic interaction, but non grata in some circles.
REPLY: OH PLEASE. Piers has no useful opinion on this issue. Heavy Oversize Load. Hit bridge. Bridge Collopses. End of Story – Anthony”
The title of this post is: “Just had an earthquake in California – 56 earthquakes (so far) in cluster near Mt. Lassen Volcanic National park”
Is a bridge failure in Seattle relevant?
Seen the trailer for Pacific Rim yet? I think it’s one of the monsters trying to break out from the deep!!!
lsvalgaard says: There are two datasets shown [PAGER and ‘Centennial’]. If you only see a wiggle in one but not the other, it is spurious.
If you only see a clear periodic repetition in one, you need to ask why.
Either one is contaminated or the other is failing to resolve it.
I don’t see what you are plotting differently in the two versions that they look so different. The axis labels seem to indicate you plotted the same thing.
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquakes-New-Full.png
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquakes-Perigee.png
perhaps you could explain the difference.
Greg Goodman says:
May 24, 2013 at 8:31 am
If you only see a clear periodic repetition in one, you need to ask why.
Human beings often see things that are not there. The variation is still within the error bars, so no explanation is needed.
I don’t see what you are plotting differently in the two versions that they look so different. The axis labels seem to indicate you plotted the same thing.
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquakes-New-Full.png
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquakes-Perigee.png
The New-Full plot only considers events that are within +/-2 days of a New or Full moon [when the effects due to combined tidal effects from the Sun and the Moon should be largest [spring tides].
I was at a High School Choir concert in Nevada City, CA and it felt like someone shaking the row of seats. Then I looked around and saw other people looking around but the high lights were not moving and everyone stayed seated my daughter on the raisers did not feel anything. Is I normal to have so many after little quakes. I was home asleep and about 1:00 Am woke up because I felt something and hear the window rattling. I want down stairs and my son who was up said he did not feel anything.
lsvalgaard says: “Human beings often see things that are not there.””
Human beings often see things that are there too.
Having seen an apparent pattern, it is necessary to use further analysis to determine whether it is real or just a trick of our pattern recognition firmware. So what did you do?
“The New-Full plot only considers events that are within +/-2 days of a New or Full moon”
So having noted an apparent 14.5 d repetition , sub-sampling at 14.5 +/-2 d would be a fairly effective way to remove that signal. We are left with the noise.
Anyway, thanks for posting the original graph, it merits a closer look and will be interesting to compare to similar signals in other physical measurements.
From David Jones on May 24, 2013 at 8:09 am:
Back before the updates when it was only a quickly-written “Just had an earthquake in California”, I’m the one who brought it up. With the near-simultaneous timing, it might have been related.
And beyond that, with the timing, I knew I wouldn’t be the only one wondering. So I brought it up, with a possible connecting mechanism. Discussion occurred, the lifeblood of a blog. Information was shared. Job done.
lsvalgaard says: “Human beings often see things that are not there.””
Like volcanic cooling for example:
http://climategrog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=271
http://climategrog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=270
Goode ’nuff says: “…Guess California doesn’t want jobs…”
“We don’ need no steenkin’ jobs. We has green jobs!”
/s
Lassen area is nice, like Mosher says. If this Ozark mountain man was forced to move to California that remote area would be my pick.
Here’s something I found.
http://www.decodedscience.com/california-earthquake-m5-7-quake-in-sierra-nevada/30567
” Although no detailed information is yet available from the United States Geological Survey on the mechanics causing the quake, fault maps of the area produced by California’s Department of Conservation clearly show the existence of faulting. The May 23 earthquake most probably occurred on or close to the northern end of the Indian Valley fault and is unusual because these faults appear not to have experienced significant recent fault movement (within the last 200 years).”…
Sorry Jorge, I plum forgot about all the bountiful green jobs.
Soooo, to non-Cali folks. Q: How do you get Californians off your damn porch? A: pay for the pizza , give ’em a little tip
lsvalgaard says: “Human beings often see things that are not there.”
Greg Goodman says: “Like volcanic cooling for example:
http://climategrog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=271
http://climategrog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=270 ”
Holy cow, Greg. The models are worse than we thought. But are there some T data or good proxies for the Krakatoa eruption era? Maybe some nice treemometers? Or speleothems? Bat poop stratigraphy in caves, maybe?
@ur momisugly lsvalgaard, say :
“An example of the poor science”
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquake-Activity.png
http://www.leif.org/research/Earthquake-Activity.png
An example of obsession of science
Leif, what happens when IMF < 3 nanoTesla, exit deep solar minimum ?
http://imageshack.us/a/img819/4540/graficon2m85.jpg
Greg Goodman says:
May 24, 2013 at 9:38 am
Human beings often see things that are there too.
Most of time the things are not there. We are evolutionary conditioned to accept false positives: “is that a tiger in the grass? dunno, but it is better to run than to take the chance that it is not” clearly has survival value.
Having seen an apparent pattern, it is necessary to use further analysis to determine whether it is real or just a trick of our pattern recognition firmware. So what did you do?
No need to do anything further. The question was if the moon being closer to the Earth [perigee] could trigger earthquakes. My plot also shows the events when the Moon is farthest from the Earth [the blue curve] and you may see another spurious wave [with a ~25 day ‘period’ – here the pseudo-scientist exclaims: ‘aha, clearly a solar siderial signal’] in that curve, so being at perigee has no special effect compared to apogee. A further analysis was, in fact, done with another dataset [the ‘Centennial’] also with a negative result. The ‘variations’ are in the noisy background.
So having noted an apparent 14.5 d repetition
Looking at noise is not very productive since the prediction [that there should be more earthquakes at perigee rather than at apogee has already failed]
will be interesting to compare to similar signals in other physical measurements.
there is no ‘signal’ to compare with.
Michele says:
May 24, 2013 at 10:38 am
Leif, what happens when IMF < 3 nanoTesla, exit deep solar minimum ?
I don’t think it ever is. Here is a plot of IMF since 1800: http://www.leif.org/research/HMF-B-since-1800.png
– here the pseudo-scientist exclaims: ‘aha, clearly a solar siderial signal’]
The objective and inquiring mind says “it is necessary to use further analysis to determine whether it is real or just a trick of our pattern recognition firmware.”
A real scientist carefully resamples the data so as to remove any periodic variation and sweeps it under the rug.
Of course there was “no need to do anything further ” any way. Just to be sure.
RE: crosspatch says:
May 23, 2013 at 11:03 pm
There are no known faults that I can find near that quake area. That area is in a generally geologically active volcanic area but no recent eruptions have happened in the general area of this quake series that I am aware of. The person to ask would be Erik Klemetti over at the Eruptions blog on Wired Science. He is rather expert on the Lassen area and will be doing research there most of this summer.
==================================
The Alamanor Basin is actually a graben, so by definition there is normal faulting along the perimeter. I think the issue is poor mapping. There are many faults in CA either only partially mapped or not mapped at all. Blind normal and thrust faults are a well know problem due to massive alluvial fans and other more recent masking features. So the main question in this case is, graben subsidence or magma movement?
It’s clear the bridge collapse on the Skagit River was unreleated to the earthquake in Northern CA.
However, it’s worth considering that this bridge, which is the main motor vehicle artery for traffic running though the US West coast all the way from Canada to Mexico, is expected to be unusable for several weeks at a minimum.
Now imagine a series of earthquakes that knocks out a dozen bridges or more, and the effect this would have on our “just in time” system of distributing medicine, food, fuel, and other consumables.
I wonder whether the US government is prepared for such situations. I know that the government of Canada isn’t.
Greg Goodman says:
May 24, 2013 at 12:39 pm
A real scientist carefully resamples the data so as to remove any periodic variation and sweeps it under the rug.
No, she uses the error analysis to conclude that there is nothing significant to investigate, especially since, the hypothesis under test [more earthquakes near perigee] is already falsified by the data.
if it was manmade it was likely caused by an injection well…and there are lots of geothermal porjects in that area….and geothermal well injection has been proven to induce earthquakes
geothermal extraction causes geological constriction which in turn effects the stress/ forces that act on existing faults…
Direct use geothermal well in greenville, ca,
https://www.geothermal-library.org/index.php?mode=pubs&action=view&record=1001167