Nevada Seismological Laboratory

Press Release

http://www.seismo.unr.edu

March 24, 2008

M 3.0 Earthquake near Mogul, Nevada

Continuing Series of Small Earthquakes in the West Reno Area

Continuing a series of earthquakes that began on Thursday February 28, 2008 near Mogul, Nevada, in the west Reno area, a Magnitude 3.0 felt earthquake occurred on Monday March 24, 2008, at 12:16 PM PDT. This is the second largest event of the recent Mogul earthquake sequence. The preliminary event location determined by the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, for posting by the U.S. Geological Survey, is - Latitude: 39.5255N; Longitude: 119.9333 W; Depth 1.9 km (1.2 miles). This afternoon’s Magnitude 3.0 earthquake has been followed by a number of small aftershocks.

The largest earthquake in the recent Mogul sequence occurred at 2:07 AM PST on March 8; on review of the data the magnitude has been revised upwards to 3.35. The third largest was the magnitude 2.95 (also updated) felt event on March 15 at 8:39 AM. Small magnitude events have been occurring in this area at a fairly steady rate since this activity began. Due to the number of seismograph stations in the Reno area, the Mogul earthquake sequence can be monitored in detail; only a small fraction of the recorded earthquakes have been felt by west Reno residents.

Following any sequence of earthquakes similar to what has been observed in the west Reno area over the past 25 days, there is a slight increase in the probability of larger magnitude events, and the persistence of this particular earthquake sequence slightly increases this probability of a significant earthquake in west Reno. However, the occurrence of additional earthquake activity in the Mogul area cannot be predicted or forecast. Nevada citizens are urged to always be prepared for strong ground shaking from earthquakes at anytime; Nevada is the third most active state for earthquake activity in the United States and large earthquakes may occur anywhere in the State. For information on earthquake preparedness visit the Nevada Seismological web site at http://www.seismo.unr.edu.

Additional links for earthquake preparedness information:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/preparedness.php U.S. Geological Survey

http://quake.usgs.gov/prepare/prepare.html U.S. Geological Survey

The data reported here has been reviewed. For more information, contact the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, (775) 784-4975. The Nevada Seismological Laboratory continues to monitor the earthquakes activity in the Mogul area.

The Nevada Seismological Laboratory is the lead agency for monitoring earthquakes in the western Great Basin, and part of the nationwide monitoring program with primary support from the U.S. Geological Survey.