Gold Beach experiencing off-shore earthquake swarm
GOLD BEACH, Ore.-- The U.S. Geological Survey says Curry County is experiencing a small earthquake swarm off of its coast line.
For the past week, 13 off-shore earthquakes between magnitude 1.6 to 3.0 have rubled under the ocean at least 20 miles off the Oregon Coast near Gold Beach in the last week.
On Tuesday alone, seven of those quakes occured.
"This is definitely not a sign of 'The Big One'," said Joan Gomberg, U.S.G.S. Seismologist.
Gomberg said what is taking place on the South Coast is being classified as a swarm of small events.
"Oregon is relatively a quiet place [...] It's easy to look at the data and feel concerned that something odd or dangerous is happening, but these are small earthquakes," Gomberg said.
Gomberg said in many instances residents along the coast will not even feel the shaking, and the Curry County Sheriff's Department tells KCBY that it has recieved no calls and has no reports of injuries or damage related to earthquakes in the past week.
"You probably won't feel them," Gomberg said. "Even if this were happening on land, and you were standing on top of the epicenter, you probably wouldn't feel anything at or below a 2.5."
Gomberg and other U.S.G.S Siesmologists have told KCBY that the tsunami risk from the swarm off the coast of Gold Beach poses very litle risk of a tsunami because of the movement of the plates along the fault line they are coming from.
"The movement is more sideways with the fault line we are talking about," Gomberg said. "To create a tsunami, you would need some kind of vertical movement, and you would need a much more powerful event. Unless the landscape underwater dramatically changes, or you have a plate slip, there is extremely little risk of a tsunami being created."
For the past week, 13 off-shore earthquakes between magnitude 1.6 to 3.0 have rubled under the ocean at least 20 miles off the Oregon Coast near Gold Beach in the last week.
On Tuesday alone, seven of those quakes occured.
"This is definitely not a sign of 'The Big One'," said Joan Gomberg, U.S.G.S. Seismologist.
Gomberg said what is taking place on the South Coast is being classified as a swarm of small events.
"Oregon is relatively a quiet place [...] It's easy to look at the data and feel concerned that something odd or dangerous is happening, but these are small earthquakes," Gomberg said.
Gomberg said in many instances residents along the coast will not even feel the shaking, and the Curry County Sheriff's Department tells KCBY that it has recieved no calls and has no reports of injuries or damage related to earthquakes in the past week.
"You probably won't feel them," Gomberg said. "Even if this were happening on land, and you were standing on top of the epicenter, you probably wouldn't feel anything at or below a 2.5."
Gomberg and other U.S.G.S Siesmologists have told KCBY that the tsunami risk from the swarm off the coast of Gold Beach poses very litle risk of a tsunami because of the movement of the plates along the fault line they are coming from.
"The movement is more sideways with the fault line we are talking about," Gomberg said. "To create a tsunami, you would need some kind of vertical movement, and you would need a much more powerful event. Unless the landscape underwater dramatically changes, or you have a plate slip, there is extremely little risk of a tsunami being created."
