A burst of low magnitude earthquakes in Northern California is just the latest in a series of earthquake clusters raising questions about whether seismic activity is increasing in the region.
On Monday morning, around 30 minor earthquakes erupted in a swarm near the Geysers geothermal field south of Clear Lake. The day before, seven quakes rattled Sonoma County, including a 4.0 quake. The recent uptick isn’t out of the ordinary, according to U.S. Geological Surveyseismologist Susan Hough.
“There’s no steady spattering of earthquakes in California,” Hough told SFGATE. “We get clusters. We get swarms.”
Hough noted that the Geysers area is a “known area of induced earthquakes,” adding that it’s often linked to fluid movement underground associated with the field’s geothermal operations. “I’m not sure it’s the kind of cluster that catches a seismologist’s eye,” she added.
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