Magma rising in a rift area like Brawley certainly makes sense. The quakes are from some 9.7 miles to a couple hundred feet in depth. You would have to suspect the magma pool is fairly shallow. It doesn’t guarantee any eruption but this is very similar in pattern to some areas the great rift valley in Africa. Also, the Clear Lake region in Northern California has frequent quake swarms (nothing as dramatic as this, though).
Well, southern CA has had other earthquake swarms too (the recent series around Yorba Linda comes to mind)....but not like this.
Earthquake Report is now listing this as “moderately dangerous.”
It would scare the crap outta me to be anywhere near this right now!
The last comparable seismic swarm in Brawley dates from 1970. Another one occurred in the 1930′s - Some buildings in Brawley were evacuated after the first stronger quakes. People will probably stay outside for a while which is good in case other even stronger quakes would strike.