Reporter John Larson interviewed Dave Thomas about the July 12 earthquake in northern New Mexico. Thomas talked about IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center's monitoring activity. He also interviewed professor Dr. Sue Bilek about ongoing seismology research across New Mexico. 

Here is an excerpt of the article with a link to the Chieftain at the bottom.

 

New Mexico quake monitored at New Mexico Tech

The earthquake that rattled windows in various Northern New Mexico communities last week was a reminder that the state of New Mexico is still a seismically active place.

Although the earthquake that occurred near Capulin – west of Abiquiu – was a magnitude of 4.2, it was felt as far away as communities in Santa Fe and Los Alamos Counties.

In Socorro, the movement was picked up by sensors at IRIS/PASSCAL at New Mexico Tech. (See image at right).

According to Dave Thomas, staff physicist at PASSCAL, the tremblor took 27 seconds to reach the facility’s earthquake sensors.

He said the sensors picked up the 4.2-magnitude quake at 9:33:35 a.m. on July 12.

“There were some weaker quakes – magnitude 3.0 at 7:44 a.m. and magnitude 3.7 at 10:06 a.m., but these don’t show up that clearly,” he said. “These measurements are made on our ‘piers,’ solid slabs of concrete with sensors on them running 24/7.”

IRIS/PASSCAL is the facility that provides instrumentation for the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and other funded seismological experiments around the world. From Alaska to Antarctica to the outer reaches of Inner Mongolia, instruments shipped from PASSCAL can be found measuring earth-shaking events virtually all over the world.

Click here for the full article