Walker earthquake that shook “Motherwood” upgraded to 6.0m, minimum damage | News

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A US Geological Survey scientist said Friday morning that Thursday afternoon’s earthquake centered 1.3 miles west of Walker at $395, which shook central Sierra, Mother Lode and downtown Sonora, has been upgraded to 6.0 on the Richter scale. .

The quake struck at 3:49 p.m. Thursday and was followed by more than 125 aftershocks with a height of 2.5 million or more as of 10:30 a.m. Friday. The largest aftershock was 5.2 million, and occurred seconds after the initial 6.0-meter earthquake, Paul Caruso, a seismologist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado, said Friday in a phone interview.

The 6.0-meter earthquake occurred 90 miles east of Sonora at a depth of 4.6 miles underground in the Antelope Valley Fault Zone, which runs parallel to 395 in the United States and extends north toward Colville, Caruso said.

Aftershocks may continue in the Walker area over the next few days to weeks.

“We can’t predict earthquakes,” Caruso said. “However, we know that after an earthquake as big as this one, we will have aftershocks in the same area as the underground rock adapts to the new stress and pressure from the earthquake. We cannot predict whether there will be more earthquakes larger than these.” We know that aftershocks can continue in the area.”

Very little rock damage was reported from Thursday’s earthquake with boulders at 395 in the U.S. near Chris Flat Campground and West Walker River, 3.5 miles north of Sonora Junction and Highway 108, Kristen Kannadler of Caltrans District 9 said Friday.

There was also a slight rock fall to clean up at Levitt Meadows on Highway 108 and Highway 89 West $395, Kandler said. No property damage or injuries were reported from Thursday’s noon quake.

Candler said Caltrans workers temporarily closed $395 from Bridgeport to the Nevada State Line in Topaz Thursday to ensure highway safety.

Although the 6.0-meter quake did not appear to cause minor permanent damage, thousands of Californians felt the quake up and down within 400 miles of the Sierra Nevada Range. More than 25,000 people reported to the USGS that they felt the quake, with respondents from Salinas, Santa Cruz, the Bay Area, Susanville, Reno, Carson City, Lone Pine and Bakersfield.

The USGS continued to record aftershocks Friday east-northeast of Dardanelles in Tuolumne County and southeast of Markleville in Alpine County.

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