IT'S NOT A SEA IT'S IN THE DESERT

Swarm Of Earthquakes Hits The Salton Sea Area

The largest of more than a dozen small quakes within minutes was magnitude 4.6 temblor.


Paige Austin, Patch Staff

Posted Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 9:57 pm PT

Updated Sat, Jun 12, 2021 at 1:54 pm PT

The ongoing swarm of more than a dozen quakes epicentered near Niland including two greater than magnitude 4.0. (Shutterstock)

SALTON, CA — A series of medium-sized earthquakes hit the Salton Sea area in quick succession Friday night.

The ongoing swarm of more than a dozen quakes epicentered near Niland including three greater than magnitude 4.0. A magnitude 4.6 quake struck southwest of Niland at 9:39 p.m. just 12 minutes after a magnitude 4.0 quake struck in the same area, according to the US Geological Survey. A magnitude 4.1 quake struck again at 9:49 p.m.

Residents across Southern California reported the shaking.

The town is also near the San Andreas fault, but Jones said that the initial swarm wasn't close enough to the fault raise concern, said Seismologist Lucy Jones.

"Tonight's swarm is closer to the San Andreas, but still not in "triggering range". All foreshocks in California have been within 10 km of their mainshock and most were within 3 km," Jones tweeted. "This is still 20+ km away."

The uptick in quakes follows a week of hundreds of small quakes in the area. The were 603 tremblors over the last weekend, alone. The largest of those quakes was a magnitude of 5.3 on Saturday.

"A potentially bigger quake is ALWAYS possible to be triggered by any quake. Happens 5% of the time," said Jones..

READ MORE: Earthquake Swarm Rattles California's Salton Sea

In 2016, a series of earthquakes in the region prompted the U.S. Geological Survey to issue a warning of the increased risk of a large quake in Southern California because more than 200 temblors epicentered less than four miles from the San Andreas Fault near the Salton Sea.

"Past swarms have remained active for 1 to 20 days, with an average duration of about a week," the USGS previously reported.

"Unfortunately, 'they continue until they stop' is our only definitive description," Jones added on Saturday. "It is usually within a day, and today's swarm is already quite a bit less active. It is probably dying off but could swing back into action."

The weekend earthquakes were felt in Imperial County and as far as San Diego County.