El Paso Earthquake swarm (4 in 5 days) mimicks 1960s swarm near Rio Grande rift

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El Paso, Texas -- Did you feel it? An earthquake shook the
Borderland, not once but twice Monday morning.

Both epicenters were just 85 miles southeast of El Paso.

The first quake, a 4.4 magnitude temblor, happened at 5:43
a.m. The second, a 4.3, followed about two hours later.


A common misconception is that El Paso lies on a fault line
like those responsible for earthquakes in California or
Japan. Instead, the city lies in an area called the Rio
Grande rift. A rift, which is not a fault line, is an area
where earth's crust is slowly being pulled apart.

Doser said the frequency of the earthquakes is unusual.
There have been four earthquakes measured over 4.0 in just
five days.

Scientists refer to these groups of events as ''swarms''
since they tend to have the same magnitude and originate
from the same location.

The last time the area saw a swarm of earthquakes was back
in the 1960s when multiple quakes with similar magnitudes
struck the area. The strongest in the group measured 5.3.

"The earthquakes went on for about four months," said Doser.
"So, it is possible that we'll have some more and they might
be felt here."

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