Gilroy has been beset by a flurry of small earthquakes in the
past week, but does not face a threat of a significant earthquake,
according to the United States Geological Survey.
Gilroy has been beset by a flurry of small earthquakes in the past week, but does not face a threat of a significant earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquakes are centered around a typically dormant location five miles west southwest of Gilroy, according to the USGS. Five earthquakes between 2.0 and 3.3 magnitude were recorded in five days, but they do not presage any larger, more dangerous earthquakes, said USGS seismologist Steve Walter.
“This is nothing really unusual in the big scheme of things but i haven’t seen activity in that particular area since before 2000,” he said.
The earthquakes are happening on the Sargent Fault, which runs primarily northwest-southeast and cuts across U.S. 101 south of Gilroy, according to USGS maps. The fault also meets up to the north with the San Andreas Fault, which runs on the west side of the Sargent Fault.
The Sargent Fault is a small but active fault, showing numerous rumblings since 1970, Walter said. While it has produced some earthquakes in the range of 4.0-magnitude, it does not pose a significant threat, he said.
“This fault isn’t really capable itself of creating a major earthquake,” Walter said.
The tectonic activity first started showing 12:04 a.m. Wednesday when a 2.1-magnitude quake hit, according to the USGS. Another 2.1 temblor followed at 4:30 a.m. the same morning.
The next day, a third 2.1-magnitude quake hit the same spot at 7:26 a.m. and 3.3-magnitude quake struck at 3:32 p.m., according to the USGS.
Finally, a fifth earthquake came at 4:32 a.m. Sunday and measured 2.8 on the Richter scale, according to the USGS.
Previous to this set of earthquakes, there was no earthquake larger than 2.0 magnitude within a close proximity to Gilroy since a 4.6-magnitude earthquake shook the South Valley March 30, according to the USGS. The epicenter of that temblor was 11 miles north of Morgan Hill.
