Cluster of small earthquakes recorded in Seattle attracts the interest of seismologists

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The strongest shaker in the series was 2.79 degrees near SeaTac. Although it is likely too small for people to feel, it has caught the attention of seismologists.

Seattle – A string of small earthquakes hit the Seattle area on Tuesday, the largest of which recorded a magnitude of 2.79, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN).

The 2.79 earthquake occurred in the Boulevard Park neighborhood, just north of SeaTac, at about 12:47 p.m. shortly after a 2.2-magnitude quake struck the same area, according to data from PNSN and the US Geological Survey. The depth of the earthquake was 2.79 29 kilometers, or about 18 miles.

This was followed by two smaller earthquakes, measuring 0.8 and 0.9 on the Richter scale, in the afternoon of the same day.

Sure enough, the swarm wasn’t enough to cause any damage, let alone be felt by people close to where it hit, but the earthquakes have caught the attention of many seismologists who monitor earthquake activity.

“Since the 1970s, we’ve had seven groups of small swarms where we’ve had a couple, maybe 7, maybe 16 earthquakes in the same small area,” said Mouse Reusch, PNSN’s ShakeAlert regional coordinator.

Reusch said the small earthquakes weren’t harbingers of a so-called Big One, or any potentially large earthquake.

“It has nothing to do with any big Cascadian fortunes going forward,” Reusch said. “We haven’t been able to find any surface faults to which these earthquakes are associated that we know of.”

Data from the smallest earthquakes remains valuable, Rioch said, as seismologists study how seismic wavelengths vary in different geological regions.

Harold Tobin, state seismologist and network manager, said swarms of small earthquakes recorded on Tuesday are not at all uncommon.

“Because we see these earthquakes from time to time, but it’s very interesting here in town,” Tobin said.

The earthquakes also did not trigger the newly launched ShakeAlert early warning system, which notifies Washington residents if an earthquake occurs nearby, Tobin said. Earthquakes need to register with a magnitude of 4.5 to 5 to operate the ShakeAlert system.

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