UTAH/COLORADO, Dec. 19, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A magnitude 4.3 earthquake shook part of southeast Utah Saturday night rattling a stretch of land near LaSal, Utah, and Bedrock, Colorado.
The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reported that the quake rumbled through at 7:11 p.m. and was felt in Moab, Utah.
The epicenter of the shock was south of Paradox Valley in western Colorado, 3.5 miles southwest of Bedrock, and 18 miles east of the town of LaSal.
The quake was preceded by a magnitude 3.3 foreshock at 6:53 p.m.
“Today’s earthquakes occurred within an area of frequent small, shallow earthquake activity triggered by underground saltwater injection,” the U of U news release said.
“Before today, a total of 12 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater had occurred within 16 mi of the epicenter of this event since 1997, including three earlier this year: a magnitude 3.4 on September 16, a magnitude 3.8 on November 8, and a magnitude 3.7 on December 8.”
A magnitude 4.5 quake was the largest in the area since 1962. That one occurred on March 4, 2019, the news release said.
Anyone who felt the earthquake is encouraged to fill out a survey form on the US Geological Survey website: earthquake.usgs.gov.
Earthquake Summary:
Date (UTC): December 20, 2020 Time (UTC): 02:11
Date (local): December 19, 2020 Time (local): 07:11 PM MST
Latitude: 38 16.37′ N
Longitude: 108 55.70′ W
Preferred magnitude: 4.30 Ml
