Barrage of 130 earthquakes rattle Death Valley as experts fear a big one could be about to hit California

Barrage of 130 earthquakes rattle Death Valley as experts fear a big one could be about to hit California

ELLYN LAPOINTE 

A flurry of earthquakes have rattled California's Death Valley, raising concerns that a bigger more devastating one could be imminent.

Since October 9, 130 quakes have struck the National Park, according to USGS geophysicist Elizabeth Cochran. 

The largest ones occurred on October 25, clocking in at magnitudes 4.7 and 4.5.

The spate of tremors has not caused any damage in the park or to nearby towns and cities but the shaking has been felt 150miles away in Las Vegas.

The park's fault system is known for its intense seismic activity, producing earthquakes up to magnitude 7.

This cluster of earthquakes, considered a 'swarm', aren't necessarily unusual, but experts have raised concerns that this uptick in activity could mean a bigger quake is coming.

'That level of shaking is something we carefully monitor, as it could significantly impact the Las Vegas valley,' Christie Rowe, Director of the Nevada Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno, told KTNV Las Vegas.

Activity increased on October 25 when a magnitude 4.2 quake hit east of Stovepipe Wells around 12:00pm local time.

This was followed by the largest recorded event so far: a magnitude 4.7 quake that also hit east of Stovepipe Wells at approximately 1am.

Another significant event was observed at 3pm UTC on October 25, with a M4.5 earthquake located 10 km (6.2 miles) southeast of Stovepipe Wells at a depth of 4.6 km (2.9 miles).

Earthquake clusters are common in Nevada, but 'they do increase our alert levels because sometimes a larger earthquake follows,' Rowe said.

And when one cluster dies down, another usually isn't far behind, she said, explaining that this pattern of activity tends to continue along the California-Nevada border or on central Nevada.