June 19th, 2005 (local time): An M4.9 aftershock occurred today.
June 16th, 2005 (local time):
A M6.7 aftershock
occurred today, at 10:21 PM local time and 06:21 UTC (on the 17th).
The occurrence of this event to the southwest is consistent with the
rupture model and with the
aftershock pattern of the M7.2 1980 Eureka earthquake
June 15th, 2005 (local time):
The magnitude of the earthquake was revised from M7.0 to M7.2, based on
the results from the Havard Centroid Moment Tensor solution.
June 14th, 2005 (local time):
This earthquake occurred 91 miles WSW of Crescent City, CA
in the
middle of the Gorda Plate
to the west of the sea-floor expression
of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. This quake was widely felt along the
northern California - southern Oregon coast line, although only
light shaking occurred.
Preliminary analysis of the quake indicates
that the motion occurred on a NE striking strike-slip fault
similar to other sequences that have occurred in this region.
This earthquake did not produce a tsunami.
Earthquakes with strike-slip mechanisms are less likely to
produce tsunami because they cause relatively little vertical
ground motion.
Earthquakes are common in the
Gorda plate, which is subjected to
north-south compression due to the north-west moving Pacific
Plate that collides with the southern boundary of the Gorda
Plate along the east-west Mendocino Fracture Zone. This quake
occurred approximately 67 miles west of the epicenter of the
November 8,
1980 Ms 7.2 earthquake. There have been 3 other
quakes of magnitude M>6 that have occurred with 50 miles radius
of the epicenter of this quake (August 16, 17 1991 and July 24 1996).
This is the largest earthquake in California since the
1999 M7.2 Hector Mine event and
the 5th earthquake
over magnitude 7 during 2005.
This event occurred just outside of the boundary
used for the CISN for earthquake notification.
A small earthquake in the Geysers area occurred a few minutes after the
M7.2 (~07:57 PDT). Preliminary estimates of the magnitude for the
Gesyers event were contaiminated by energy from the offshore earthquake.
The current estimated magnitude is 3.9, although this may be revised.