The Denver earthquake series of the 1960s
Subtitle: How to cause an earthquake.
The USGS has websites of earthquake history for each state. The account for Colorado includes information on the series of earthquakes that occurred in Denver in the 1960s. When and why did the earthquakes start?
“In 1961, a 12,000-foot well was drilled at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, northeast of Denver, for disposing of waste fluids from Arsenal operations. Injection was commenced March 1962, and an unusual series of earthquakes erupted in the area shortly after.”
In fact, the earthquakes continued through the 1960s so “in September of …[1968], the Army began removing fluid from the Arsenal well at a very slow rate, in hope that earthquake activity would lessen.”
Click on map to see USGS explanation.
Resources:
- Colorado earthquake history
- Largest earthquake in Colorado history: 1882 Denver magnitude 6.6
- Colorado earthquake Information
- Last earthquake in Colorado
- US earthquake information by state
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