Staff Report

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s seismic network detected an extremely small earthquake at 10:32 a.m. Tuesday, according to spokesman Kevin Roark. The event did not have any impact on Laboratory operations and there were no reports of anyone feeling the earthquake on Laboratory property, he said.

“A Laboratory seismologist has calculated a preliminary ‘signal duration’ magnitude of 1.5 at a location about two kilometers west-northwest of the northwestern edge of the town of Los Alamos and at a depth less than one kilometer,” Roark said. “This extremely small magnitude is typical for the vast majority of earthquakes in the vicinity of Los Alamos. Most are further away and deeper and are not felt by anyone. The area experiences this type of seismic activity near the eastern margin of the Jemez Mountains roughly once every three to five years.”