Shallow Earthquake Swarm Hits Mt Hood In Oregon

Very shallow earthquake swarm hits Mount Hood in Oregon

Strange Sounds

Mount Hood is currently hit by a swarm of small earthquakes. As of now, about 29 quakes hit the active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

The largest quake was a M2.8 and hit on October 17, 2021 at 7:42PDT (October 18, 2021 at 2:42am UTC).

The tremors hit at a depth between 0.25 miles (0.4 km) and 1.99 miles (3.2 km), with most of the tremors (23) occuring between 1.30 miles (2.1km) and 1.68 miles (2.7 km).

The last earthquake swarm at Mount Hood occurred in June 2021.

Most of the earthquakes occurred about 15 hours ago, but the swarm is continuing

The seismic activity was low during the last 30 days and picked up about 16 hours ago. There is clearly something going on at Mount Hood right now!

The volcano ended a long (~10,000 yr) dormant period about 1,500 years ago and has had two eruptive period of lava-dome growth in the past 1,500 years.

A significant eruption of Mount Hood, such as an eruption of lava domes that collapse to form pyroclastic flows and lahars, would displace several thousand residents and cause billion-dollar-scale damage to infrastructure and buildings.

In addition to a large and growing nearby residential population, Mount Hood is a major recreation destination for skiing, climbing, hiking, camping, and other types of tourism.

There are also significant elements of transportation and electrical power infrastructure in the area, all of which would be affected by future activity and cause major economic losses in the region.