Temblors spur curiosity but not concern

Tom Gardner

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2000 | 9:31 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Seismologists are keeping an eye on a remote region near Gerlach that has been shaken by a series of recent earthquakes, including a 4.3 temblor Sunday.

So far, experts say the quake activity is nothing to cause worry.

"Obviously, we're watching it but we're not particularly concerned that it's going to turn into anything big," said John Anderson, director of the seismology laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno. "We don't find it to be particularly unusual."

The shaky spot is on the east edge of the Smoke Creek Desert at the northern end of the Fox Range in a desolate part of the state about 12 miles southwest of Gerlach.

"We don't have any 'felt' reports," Anderson said. "It would be fairly unusual for a quake that size to cause damage."

Sunday morning's 4.3 shake was within a range that could cause problems in a populated area. It was the strongest of a half dozen temblors recorded in the desert over the past week. Other than a 3.8 shock on Thursday, all the others have been less than magnitude 3.

Anderson said the motion had not been linked to any fault, but there have been quakes in the past along the nearby Fox Range fault. He added that none has been very large.

While things have calmed down since Sunday, Anderson said a renewal of the quake flurry or anything stronger might send scientists to the area with instruments because there are no nearby monitoring devices.

The weekend produced a second jolt in northwestern Nevada, a 3.8 bump Saturday in Dixie Valley, which produced one of the state's strongest recorded quakes nearly a half century ago.

A 6.8 magnitude temblor occurred Dec. 16, 1954, just four minutes after the 7.1 jolt at Fairview Peak 50 miles south.

Anderson said that despite the elapsed time, the Dixie Valley quake was within the aftershock zone of the one in 1954 that split the earth with a rift that's still visible.

"It could be a very slowly dying aftershock," he said.