Series of earthquakes rattle area near Trinidad, Colorado

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Great Earthquakes In Diverse Places

Series of earthquakes rattle area near Trinidad, Colorado

Denver Weather Examiner
August 22, 2011 -


Southern Colorado was rattled by a magnitude 4.6 earthquake Monday evening near Trinidad.  The same area had been struck by a gentler temblor earlier in the morning.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake occurred at 5:30pm and was centered 16 miles west southwest of Trinidad or 20 miles west northwest of Raton, New Mexico.  The quake occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 3.1 miles.

Initial reports show the quake was felt in Trinidad and as far north as La Veta and Aguilar.  To the south in New Mexico, Raton felt the shaking as well as Springer and Questa.

This morning a magnitude 2.9 quake struck the same area at 7:52am.  This also follows a magnitude 2.8 temblor in March.  Other quakes up to magnitude 4.1 have been recorded in January 2010 as well as a series of quakes in the area in August 2009.

The quake this evening represents the most powerful quake to strike the area since 2000 when a temblor magnitude 5.6 occurred.  The Sangre de Christo Fault, near which the quake occurred, is located in the mountain range for which it is named and runs more than 110 miles from the New Mexico border north into Colorado.

In 2001 an earthquake “swarm” shook the area near Trinidad on the fault. During that event, from August 28 and September 21 of that year, 12 earthquakes of magnitude 2.8 to 4.6 struck just west of the southern Colorado city in the same area as Monday's quake.

While normally not particularly active, there are approximately 100 potentially active faults in Colorado and more than 400 temblors of magnitude 2.5 have occurred in the state since 1870. The state’s largest quake occurred on November 7, 1882 along the northern Front Range and measured 6.5 on the Richter Scale.

According to the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, the costliest quake was a 5.3 magnitude temblor that occurred on August 9, 1967 and was centered near Commerce City. The quake caused more than $1 million worth of damage and is thought to have been caused by the injection of liquid waste into the earth at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.