CompuServe Messages

At 9:24 this morning we had a sharp quake here in the Landers/Yucca Valley area in S. California at a preliminary 5.0 on the Richter scale. It is being called an aftershock of the 1992 Landers/Big Bear earthquake. It was preceeded by about 2 seconds of a low, loud thunder-like rumbling. Then the sharp quivering and shaking hit, knocking pictures off walls. It was alarming. It was felt all the way into the Los Angeles basin 100 miles away. There have a been a number of lesser shocks for the past hour. They are preceeded by audible low rumblings. Standing outside in the quiet desert (there goes another one) I can hear an almost faint thunderlike rumbling in the distance. It sounds to be coming from the north, but the epicenter was 2 miles south. I believe this tremor should not be called an aftershock. This is an earthquake of its own entity. It just happens to be a continuing of the tearing and moving of a long fault that appears to be north and south oriented. I think the word "aftershock" might be too simplistic. Maybe a "continuing" shock or further fault movement is more descriptive. There are two dormant volcano craters just north and east of here. They supposedly erupted 6000 years ago. One 30 miles, the other 33 miles away. Also there is a flat lava flow bed one mile wide 18 miles NE of here on the Marine base. I think we may see new volcanic action in this area, and maybe in the sleeping cones! W.H.