This isn't new, a few years ago, I spoke with the Chief Seismologist at University Nevada Reno researching mysterious booms and cluster of EQ's near Walker Lake. It turned out to be caused by atmospheric conditions and detonation of munitions at the nearby Hawthorne weapon depot.

Indigenous peoples (Paiute tribe) have an oral tradition of ships sailing up from the Gulf of California along Long Valley Caldera. It used to be an inland sea from the Gulf of California up to Mammoth Lakes. There is even a story of a Spanish galleon laden with gold that got stranded around the Salton Sea. Eventually the climate changed and the inland sea dried up. What is left is Walker Lake, Mono Lake, Owens Lake and Salton Sea.