What's Going on at Long Valley?

"( . ) ( . )" MAMMOTH LAKE shaking!!!

Wow, yeah I go away from my keyboard for a bit and the valley starts doing the mambo. All in the past hour or so:

1.3 2010/06/07 23:20:36 37.641 -118.941 8.0 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.7 2010/06/07 22:59:49 37.644 -118.944 7.6 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.6 2010/06/07 22:45:28 37.638 -118.938 7.8 4 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
2.8 2010/06/07 22:40:25 37.642 -118.942 7.7 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.7 2010/06/07 22:34:15 37.639 -118.942 7.4 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.4 2010/06/07 22:33:53 37.654 -118.932 3.6 5 km ( 3 mi) ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
2.1 2010/06/07 22:33:12 37.640 -118.942 8.0 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
3.0 2010/06/07 22:31:30 37.637 -118.954 6.6 2 km ( 1 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
3.2 2010/06/07 22:31:21 37.641 -118.942 7.6 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA

She's just jealous because she heard me talking about that comet.

Everything's between 2 and 5 km deep and all in the same spot (or close to it) inside the caldera.

I certainly hope there isn't anything brewing in that area because it's quite close to civilization.

Look at it in Google Earth:

maps.google.com...(M3.0+-+LONG+VALLEY+AREA,+CALIFORNIA+-+2010+June+07++22:31:30+UTC)&f=d&t=f&hl=e&ie=UTF8&ll=37.636281,-1 18.953441&spn=0.00463,0.010568&z=17&ecpose=37.63572275,-118.95343687,3434.43,-0.295,3.384,0

More activity:

2.0 2010/06/09 14:07:01 37.619 -119.019 3.9 4 km ( 3 mi) WSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.0 2010/06/09 14:06:22 37.607 -119.017 3.1 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.9 2010/06/09 13:58:05 37.596 -119.028 0.0 6 km ( 4 mi) SW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.4 2010/06/08 03:03:32 37.641 -118.941 8.0 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.8 2010/06/08 03:03:04 37.646 -118.943 7.4 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.0 2010/06/08 00:13:19 37.640 -118.945 7.2 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.3 2010/06/07 23:20:36 37.641 -118.941 8.0 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Mammoth Lakes, CA

Those three at the top occurred this morning, in another area just to the south of the caldera rim.

Devil's postpile

earthquake.usgs.gov...

and Mammoth Pass are looking pretty disordered this morning

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I don't really know much about deformation graphs but I've been watching the Postpile strainmeter for the past week or so, wondering what it all means

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Anyone more informed care to comment?

Devil's postpile

earthquake.usgs.gov...

and Mammoth Pass are looking pretty disordered this morning

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I don't really know much about deformation graphs but I've been watching the Postpile strainmeter for the past week or so, wondering what it all means

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Anyone more informed care to comment?

I have been wathching the activity at Long Valley for the past several years. In my observation, it is quiet normal to have several quakes in the area every day. They use to give a daily update but now only give a weekly update. There Caldera is active and Gas emmisions are high and have been for a number of years. This is another Caldera which is among the ones of it's just a matter of time.

Originally posted by quakewatcher
I certainly hope there isn't anything brewing in that area because it's quite close to civilization.

Look at it in Google Earth:

maps.google.com...(M3.0+-+LONG+VALLEY+AREA,+CALIFORNIA+-+2010+June+07++22:31:30+UTC)&f=d&t=f&hl=e&ie=UTF8&ll=37.636281,-1 18.953441&spn=0.00463,0.010568&z=17&ecpose=37.63572275,-118.95343687,3434.43,-0.295,3.384,0

It could be a thousands miles away and it wouldn't matter much,
it is a Super Volcano with prior VEI-7 eruptions.

It has been said that a major fault shift in that area could trigger
it to erupt again.

Let's hope not because its Ash path would REALLY sock it to the
central farm lands of the US.

Again another reason to have a few months supply of long shelf
life food stored.

It has never erupted as big as Toba or Yellowstone but it was
100's times bigger than St. Helens.

Another little swarm is going on.

1.6 2010/07/14 20:02:37 37.465 -118.840 6.3 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA
1.1 2010/07/14 12:58:36 37.460 -118.845 6.3 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA
1.0 2010/07/14 09:18:18 37.462 -118.848 6.3 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA
2.0 2010/07/14 07:52:29 37.459 -118.843 6.6 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA
1.0 2010/07/14 07:51:18 37.458 -118.844 7.2 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA
2.1 2010/07/14 07:49:03 37.460 -118.843 7.1 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA

All in the same immediate vicinity, to the South of the caldera.

To the last poster: the Long Valley area experiences smaller localized eruptions quite a bit more frequently than large caldera-forming eruptions, so proximity to the local towns is relevant.

Updated for today's action:

2.0 2010/07/15 21:54:07 37.622 -118.814 7.8 14 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.4 2010/07/15 12:13:49 37.609 -119.027 5.0 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.5 2010/07/15 10:38:15 37.611 -119.029 5.5 5 km ( 3 mi) WSW of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.4 2010/07/15 10:20:47 37.608 -119.027 5.2 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Mammoth Lakes, CA

Quakes are occurring in clusters but the clusters are all over the map. Today's 2.0 was inside the caldera (but on a fault line.)

LONG VALLEY OBSERVATORY WEEKLY UPDATE
Friday, July 16, 2010 10:38 AM PDT (Friday, July 16, 2010 17:38 UTC)


LONG VALLEY VOLCANIC CENTER VOLCANO (CAVW #1203-14-)
37°42' N 118°52'12" W, Summit Elevation 7231 ft (2204 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Seventeen earthquakes with magnitudes ranging between M=1.0 and M=2.1 occurred in the Long Valley area over the last week. Most were located in the Sierra Nevada south of the caldera including a cluster of four that occurred 11 miles SW of Tom's Place between 7:49 and 9:18 AM on the 14th. The first of these, a M 2.1 event, was the largest earthquake in the region during the week. A swarm of small earthquakes beneath the Horseshoe Lake area between 4:45 AM and 12:13 PM on the 15th included four earthquakes of M > 1.0, the largest of which was a M=1.5 earthquake at 10:38 AM. A M 2.0 earthquake at 9:54 PM on the 15th was located beneath the southern margin of the caldera just south of Doe Ridge (~ 2 miles ESE of the Airport). This level of activity is considered normal for the area.

[edit on 16-7-2010 by Anmarie96]

Largest earthquake in a while at Mammoth Lakes just now:

3.5 2010/07/18 06:16:26 37.621 -118.814 7.8 14 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA

This was inside the caldera rim.

A couple of smaller ones since then but not in the same place:
1.2 2010/07/18 06:54:11 37.811 -118.970 3.1 19 km ( 12 mi) N of Mammoth Lakes, CA
1.1 2010/07/18 06:52:15 37.811 -118.969 2.8 19 km ( 12 mi) N of Mammoth Lakes, CA

Another one. To the South of the caldera where there have been swarms recently:


2.3 2010/07/18 17:40:33 37.459 -118.843 6.8 18 km ( 11 mi) SW of Toms Place, CA

reply to post by quakewatcher


It's getting interesting - all over!

Magnitude 2.9
Date-Time

* Monday, July 19, 2010 at 14:50:43 UTC
* Monday, July 19, 2010 at 07:50:43 AM at epicenter

Location 37.623°N, 118.816°W
Depth 8.1 km (5.0 miles)
Region LONG VALLEY AREA, CALIFORNIA
Distances

* 14 km (9 miles) E (96°) from Mammoth Lakes, CA
* 14 km (9 miles) WNW (300°) from Toms Place, CA
* 30 km (19 miles) NW (320°) from Round Valley, CA
* 254 km (158 miles) ESE (113°) from Sacramento, CA

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.2 km (0.1 miles); depth +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles)
Parameters Nph= 39, Dmin=2 km, Rmss=0.04 sec, Gp= 40°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=1
Source

* California Integrated Seismic Net:
* USGS Caltech CGS UCB UCSD UNR

Event ID nc71428015


may be revised ..

Stack of quakes inside the caldera, just to the West of Lake Crowley.

They don't look like much on the earthquake map because you can't see them all, being more or less right on top of each other.


So far today:

1.4 2010/07/19 15:48:04 37.623 -118.816 7.8 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.4 2010/07/19 15:33:57 37.623 -118.816 7.9 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.6 2010/07/19 14:53:51 37.623 -118.814 7.9 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 2.9 2010/07/19 14:50:43 37.623 -118.816 8.1 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.1 2010/07/19 11:08:42 37.622 -118.815 7.6 14 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.6 2010/07/19 10:56:26 37.623 -118.815 7.9 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.2 2010/07/19 10:41:47 37.621 -118.817 7.6 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
MAP 1.9 2010/07/19 08:56:35 37.621 -118.815 7.7 14 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA

So far they are all about 8 km deep.

Woah, look at the Mammoth Lakes seismograph:

earthquake.usgs.gov...

I live in fresno Ca, on a clear day i can see mammoth mtn up the san joaquin river canyon.
Early sunday morning, about 5-5:15 am my dog started acting very wierd. She was pacing around the bed room whining and barking. Not her usual barking when someone was outside or such. She kept trying to crawl under the bed on the back side and after about 1/2 an hr she jumped up in the bed with her favorite toy, she never does that and wouldnt leave me alone.
About sixish i got up figuring she was hungry or wanted out for some reason but her dish was full and she wouldnt go out at all, so I gave up and went back to bed. But while I was up I noticed all of the cats were also inside hiding under the coffee table, THAT NEVER HAPPENS at that time in the morning and I'll never find my two males in the same space together.

I live in fresno Ca, on a clear day i can see mammoth mtn up the san joaquin river canyon.
Early sunday morning, about 5-5:15 am my dog started acting very wierd. She was pacing around the bed room whining and barking. Not her usual barking when someone was outside or such. She kept trying to crawl under the bed on the back side and after about 1/2 an hr she jumped up in the bed with her favorite toy, she never does that and wouldnt leave me alone.
About sixish i got up figuring she was hungry or wanted out for some reason but her dish was full and she wouldnt go out at all, so I gave up and went back to bed. But while I was up I noticed all of the cats were also inside hiding under the coffee table, THAT NEVER HAPPENS at that time in the morning and I'll never find my two males in the same space together.

More of the same, more or less the same location, same depth (about 7-8 KM)

1.1 2010/07/20 14:47:30 37.629 -118.814 8.0 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.2 2010/07/20 13:39:43 37.626 -118.814 7.2 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.6 2010/07/20 13:37:33 37.624 -118.817 7.6 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.1 2010/07/20 05:56:55 37.621 -118.813 7.3 13 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.4 2010/07/20 05:38:44 37.623 -118.817 7.8 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.1 2010/07/20 03:09:01 37.626 -118.814 7.7 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.4 2010/07/20 00:01:18 37.622 -118.814 7.6 14 km ( 8 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.3 2010/07/19 20:57:19 37.625 -118.814 8.1 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA
1.8 2010/07/19 20:03:51 37.623 -118.816 7.7 14 km ( 9 mi) WNW of Toms Place, CA