Large earthquake hits Arizona, felt in NM, TX

Several earthquakes occurred overnight and yesterday. Here is a short report.

Moderate quake widely felt in Arizona, N. Mexico

A moderate earthquake struck in Arizona near the New Mexico line that was widely felt across the region, but no injuries or damages were immediately reported. County sheriffs' offices on both sides of the state line reported receiving numerous phone calls after Saturday's magnitude 5.2 quake shook the largely rural region. Arizona residents in Graham County, Safford, Tucson, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and other areas have reported feeling the tremor. It was felt as far away as Phoenix and El Paso, Texas, both about 175 miles from the epicenter, as well in parts of Mexico, which begins some 80 miles to the south.

As soon as I read of an earthquake in Arizona, I wondered how frequent or infrequent earthquakes there are. Not too frequent, though they do happen. The largest one similar to the one that occurred last night happened 50 years ago. But this one is bigger, making it one of the largest magnitude quakes in AZ history. Below is some context for you.

Earthquake History of Arizona, according to United States Geological Survey,

The earliest documents which describe Arizona earthquakes were those recorded at Fort Yuma, located in the 1800's on the California side of the Colorado River. Shocks which probably centered in the Imperial Valley of California, or in Mexico, have been noted there since late 1852.

No earthquake in recorded history has caused deaths or injuries in Arizona. In the past century or more, 14 tremors of intensity V to VII have centered within its borders, of which 12 were reported after Arizona entered the Union in February 1912. All of these shocks, however, were moderate in intensity, with one intensity VII, one VI-VII, four VI, and eight V.

News station KPHO reports that Historical data kept by the USGS establishes this earthquake one of the most powerful in Arizona history. In July of 1959 a magnitude 5.6 quake struck along the Arizona-Utah border. A rockslide at Mather Point in the Grand Canyon was attributed to the shock, according to the USGS.

In other quake news,
Magnitude of quake off south Atlantic islands revised to 6.9; tsunami threat 'does not exist'

A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck in the far south Atlantic ocean in the inhospitable South Sandwich Islands region, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said on Sunday. The USGS, which monitors quakes worldwide initially said the quake was of magnitude 7.1, but later revised its strength downwards. It also slightly revised the epicentre's location. The quake, which struck at 7.52am, had an epicentre 154km north-west of the uninhabited Visokoi Island, and 1,975km east-south-east of Stanley, the main city on the Falkland Islands, the USGS reported. The epicentre was at a depth of 16.5km.

6.2-magnitude quake hits off Japan's Iwo Jima

TOKYO: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the Japanese island of Iwo Jima on Sunday, said the US Geological Survey. The quake was situated 167km east-southeast of Iwo Jima, which is part of Japan’s Volcano Islands chain. Japanese broadcaster NHK there was no threat of a tsunami resulting from the earthquake.

Oklahoma continues to be seismically active, as does other parts of the United States where it seems that earthquakes don't or shouldn't be happening. This is the USGS 7-day earthquake map view.

Here is a closer-in view. My memory may well be flawed, but I don't remember seeing so many "dots" sprinkled all over the US. This view is of the last week.

He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; (Job 9:5-6)

Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. (Psalm 18:7)