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back to EQ info.

found this at https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-does-it-mean-earthquake-occurred-a-depth-0-km-how-can-earthquake-have-a-negative-depth?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products

First of all, the depth of an earthquake is usually the most difficult part of its location to nail down with great accuracy. Since most earthquakes are deep within the crust, an error of +/- 1 or 2 km is irrelevant; in other words, it is a small error when the depth is something like 13 km. If the earthquake depth is relatively shallow, however, it becomes more of an issue. A negative depth can sometimes be an artifact of the poor resolution for a shallow event.

For quarry blasts that are recorded by the seismic network, the depth is fixed at 0 km since we can never determine a precise depth for these, but we know they are very close to the surface.

Ok, so MOST EARTHQUAKES ARE DEEP WITHIN THE CRUST. Got that? EQs at the surface or quarry blasts are at 0 km depth (+/- 1 or 2 km)

So I’m looking at EQs from the past 24 hours and I see these: (note the depths)

M 1.7 - 20km NW of Searles Valley, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:35:59 (UTC)
Location
35.909°N 117.534°W
Depth
-0.1 km

M 1.1 - 12km N of Ridgecrest, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:34:04 (UTC)
Location
35.731°N 117.699°W
Depth
0.2 km

M 1.6 - 14km SSW of Searles Valley, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:33:03 (UTC)
Location
35.648°N 117.458°W
Depth
0.3 km

1.2 - 15km ENE of Ridgecrest, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:28:15 (UTC)
Location
35.667°N 117.520°W
Depth
0.3 km

M 1.3 - 10km E of Coso Junction, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:17:14 (UTC)
Location
36.058°N 117.837°W
Depth
-0.2 km

M 1.5 - 19km ESE of Little Lake, CA

Time
2019-07-09 12:11:59 (UTC)
Location
35.890°N 117.706°W
Depth
0.6 km

M 1.8 - 9km NE of Boron, CA

III
DYFI?
Time
2019-07-09 12:09:33 (UTC)
Location
35.062°N 117.590°W
Depth
0.6 km

M 1.2 - 11km SW of Searles Valley, CA

Time
2019-07-09 11:49:00 (UTC)
Location
35.693°N 117.486°W
Depth
0.4 km

M 1.7 - 13km NNW of Johannesburg, CA

Time
2019-07-09 11:14:10 (UTC)
Location
35.486°N 117.666°W
Depth
0.0 km

M 0.9 - 20km S of Trona, CA

Time
2019-07-09 11:06:26 (UTC)
Location
35.585°N 117.359°W
Depth
0.3 km

M 0.9 - 20km ESE of Little Lake, CA

Time
2019-07-09 11:02:48 (UTC)
Location
35.846°N 117.712°W
Depth
-0.0 km

M 0.8 - 8km W of Searles Valley, CA

Time
2019-07-09 10:53:53 (UTC)
Location
35.767°N 117.490°W
Depth
0.2 km

M 0.8 - 21km ESE of Little Lake, CA

Time
2019-07-09 10:45:20 (UTC)
Location
35.871°N 117.688°W
Depth
0.1 km

M 3.5 - 21km E of Little Lake, CA

III
DYFI?
V
ShakeMap
Time
2019-07-09 10:21:52 (UTC)
Location
35.956°N 117.678°W
Depth
0.8 km

M 2.7 - 10km WSW of Searles Valley, CA

Time
2019-07-09 10:20:41 (UTC)
Location
35.720°N 117.499°W
Depth
0.6 km

So that’s about 2 hours worth. I got tired of copying/pasting, but enough for you to see the pattern. Notice all these shallow “quakes” are mostly in 2 areas of CA. (I found one in Alaska from a bit earlier.)

I only included those less than 1.0 km depth, but a fair number between 1-2 km also.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%221562677192865%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-65.80277639340238%2C-252.0703125%5D%2C%5B77.76758238272801%2C-32.6953125%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221562677192865%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22Search%20Results%22%2C%22isSearch%22%3Atrue%2C%22params%22%3A%7B%22starttime%22%3A%222019-07-02%2000%3A00%3A00%22%2C%22endtime%22%3A%222019-07-09%2023%3A59%3A59%22%2C%22maxlatitude%22%3A69.923%2C%22minlatitude%22%3A-16.573%2C%22maxlongitude%22%3A-47.813%2C%22minlongitude%22%3A-229.219%2C%22minmagnitude%22%3A0.5%2C%22mindepth%22%3A-2%2C%22maxdepth%22%3A1%2C%22eventtype%22%3A%22earthquake%2Cchemical%20explosion%2Cchemical_explosion%2Cexperimental%20explosion%2Cexplosion%2Cinduced%20or%20triggered%20event%2Cmine%20collapse%2Cmine_collapse%2Cmining%20explosion%2Cmining_explosion%2Cnuclear%20explosion%2Cnuclear_explosion%2Cother%20event%2Cother_event%22%2C%22orderby%22%3A%22time%22%7D%7D%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22list%22%2C%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3Anull%7D

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%221562677192865%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B32.537551746769%2C-121.28906250000001%5D%2C%5B38.048091067457236%2C-114.43359375%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A%221562677192865%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22Search%20Results%22%2C%22isSearch%22%3Atrue%2C%22params%22%3A%7B%22starttime%22%3A%222019-07-02%2000%3A00%3A00%22%2C%22endtime%22%3A%222019-07-09%2023%3A59%3A59%22%2C%22maxlatitude%22%3A69.923%2C%22minlatitude%22%3A-16.573%2C%22maxlongitude%22%3A-47.813%2C%22minlongitude%22%3A-229.219%2C%22minmagnitude%22%3A0.5%2C%22mindepth%22%3A-2%2C%22maxdepth%22%3A1%2C%22eventtype%22%3A%22earthquake%2Cchemical%20explosion%2Cchemical_explosion%2Cexperimental%20explosion%2Cexplosion%2Cinduced%20or%20triggered%20event%2Cmine%20collapse%2Cmine_collapse%2Cmining%20explosion%2Cmining_explosion%2Cnuclear%20explosion%2Cnuclear_explosion%2Cother%20event%2Cother_event%22%2C%22orderby%22%3A%22time%22%7D%7D%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22list%22%2C%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3Anull%7D

Ok, so try clicking on these 2 links.

If I did this right, the first will show you shallow “quakes” from Japan in the East to Cuba in the West. Note the absence of any outside the US.

The second will show you the cluster in CA. This is different from the elongated “swarm” showing quakes at all depths.

So is this normal mining/quarrying activity? Or is something else going on? That is a LOT of blasting for a 24 hour period. (But what do I know? I have no background in mining/quarrying.)

The small quakes in California appear to be part of an ongoing slow slip. Both Southern California and Alaska have weakened crusts caused by gas, oil, and thermal drilling operations.

I’m starting to form an opinion that all these rapid M3 or less earthquakes are weapons tests. I’ve never seen this many earthquakes in such rapidity all with about the same magnitude at nearly the same location.

My conjectures include:

1) Rods from God testing to help improve pinpoint accuracy and/or let the rest of the world know how good we really are.

2) Laser or similar force weapons of a less physical nature to do the same.

3) Testing of a rail gun with a massive projectile

I don’t rule out natural occurrence but the swarming and all being so close in magnitude makes me wonder if it isn’t something else. Plus the location tied so close to the Naval Weapons station.