Series of earthquakes strikes Reno, Nevada area

April 25, 2008 A large series of earthquakes has hit the northern area of U.S. state Nevada recently, particularly in and around the Reno metropolitan area. Between the hours of 01:00 PDT (08:00 UTC) on April 24 and 16:00 PDT (23:00 UTC) on April 25, over 125 earthquakes, ranging in magnitude from 0.7 to 4.2 on the Richter scale, hit the Reno area. Six of the earthquakes were of magnitude 3.0 or greater, noticeably shaking local residents. The area has seen at least 500 earthquakes greater than magnitude 0.7 in the last two months; of those, about 45 have exceeded 2.0 on the Richter scale.

Nevada is the third most earthquake-active state in the United States, and the Reno area regularly sees seismological activity. However, recent events, particularly yesterday's series of tremors, have become alarmingly frequent for locals. The recent tremors are also unusual in that the most recent earthquakes have been the largest. The most common earthquake scenario is a large quake followed by smaller aftershocks.