Seismo-Watch

More Special Earthquake Reports

November 13, 2001

BOMBAY BEACH, CALIFORNIA - Beginning at about 6 a.m. this morning, a small sequence of tremors was recorded along the eastern shore of the Salton Sea near Bombay Beach.

According to the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN), three of the six tremors have registered in the M3 range, a M3.0 at 8:03 a.m., a M3.2 five minutes later at 8:08 a.m, and the largest, a M3.4 at 8:45 a.m. (Subscribers to the Seismo-Watch EQ Flash! Alert Bulletins received a notification of the larger earthquakes within minutes following the shaking. See Alert Bulletin for largest event).

The tectonic action occurred about three miles southeast of Bombay Beach and 11 miles northwest of Obsidian Buttes in the shallow waters of the eastern Salton Sea, (See a Topozone topo map, see a MapQuest street map).

The focal depth was shallow and placed at 2.2 km (1.4 miles) beneath the surface.

Early reports from the area indicate all three M3 temblors were felt at Bombay Beach. The first two caught the attention

Although there have be no report at time, the three larger quakes are likely to have been locally felt but were too weak to cause any items to topple from tables or shelves. Did you feel this earthquake?

Perhaps significant about these series is that the activity occurred along the locked southern segment of the San Andreas Fault. The last events to top the M3.0 mark along this segment occurred the day of the Lavic Lake (Hector Mine) M7.1 earthquake on October 16, 1999, and raised serious concerns of a potential large earthquake. One of the events in that sequence measured M4.0.

Prior to 1999, there have been only five M3+ tremors along this segment of the San Andreas fault since 1993. See a list.