Colorado Jostled with Earthquake Aftershocks

By | August 25, 2011

Colorado has been jostled with 13 aftershocks after Monday night’s magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck just hours before a magnitude-5.8 temblor hit Virginia, earthquake monitors said Wednesday.

Geophysicist Amy Vaughan of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., said the biggest aftershock in Colorado was a 3.9 temblor recorded just after 8 a.m. on Tuesday. She said there have been four aftershocks after the Virginia earthquake, the biggest a 4.2 just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Vaughan said the aftershocks are decreasing in length and intensity, and no major damage has been reported from the aftershocks. More aftershocks could be expected, she said.

“We can expect more aftershocks for days or weeks, but they’re decreasing in frequency and volume,” Vaughan said.

The earthquake that hit Colorado was the largest in almost 40 years.

The magnitude 5.3 temblor was recorded at about 11:46 p.m. MDT Monday about nine miles southwest of Trinidad, Colo.

That earthquake damaged chimneys, cracked walls and knocked items off shelves, but there were no injuries.

Vaughan said more than 122,000 people had contacted the USGS on its Web site about the Virginia earthquake, and 1,700 reported feeling the Colorado earthquake.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Virginia Colorado

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