STATE
What鈥檚 going on beneath Valencia County? Earthquakes raise questions
Scientists say the shaking traces back to a massive underground magma body that has been quietly reshaping central New Mexico for decades
It happened again.
Just three days after a series of earthquakes rattled Valencia and Socorro counties, another swarm struck before dawn Wednesday, sending tremors through communities from Veguita to Belen and prompting a familiar question from residents:
What exactly is going on beneath the ground?
The answer lies roughly 12 miles below the Rio Grande Valley about an hour south of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, where scientists have long tracked a vast underground magma body centered near Socorro.
Invisible from the surface, the formation is slowly expanding, placing stress on the Earth鈥檚 crust and triggering recurring clusters of small earthquakes across parts of central New Mexico.
Six earthquakes struck south of Belen between 3:44 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The strongest measured magnitude 3.8 near Veguita.
Sunday kicked off with a 3.7鈥憁agnitude quake near Abeytas. Just minutes later, a slightly stronger 3.9鈥憁agnitude jolt near Las Nutrias had residents across the county checking their walls, their pets and their sanity around 11:45 a.m.
Two smaller quakes, measuring 2.7 and 2.9, followed later in the afternoon west of the earlier epicenters.
Mairi Litherland, with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology, said the pattern is familiar for the region.
鈥淭his sort of cluster of earthquakes is pretty typical of earthquakes that we see associated with the Socorro magma body.鈥�
She explained that about 12 miles beneath the surface, a slowly-expanding magma body puts stress on the crust, triggering small quakes.
鈥淭his whole area around Socorro is the most seismically active part of New Mexico,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 something new; we鈥檝e seen swarms like this going back decades.鈥�
While the swarm could taper off or continue, Litherland emphasized nothing suggests an unusual or escalating threat.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a possibility there could be larger events, but there鈥檚 no reason to think anything outside the typical is likely,鈥� she said.
Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp said there were no injuries or damage reported, though plenty of residents felt the jolt and took to the department鈥檚 Facebook post to compare notes.
鈥淚 felt it here in Los Lunas! I was lying in bed watching TV, and felt the bed and the floor move, I thought it was all in my head!鈥� Vanessa Gutierrez commented.
鈥淚t shook me here in Belen,鈥� added Wilma Ulibarri. 鈥淎s I was walking, I felt my legs shake. 鈥� It knocked my balance off and took me a few seconds to regain.鈥�
Hayley Griggs wrote on the 狈别飞蝉-叠耻濒濒别迟颈苍鈥檚 Facebook page that she was surprised by the jolt.
鈥淚 was in the bathroom and I thought someone finally hit the side of my house in Veguita off 304. I was relieved it was an earthquake lol,鈥� she wrote.
Litherland noted that while oil and gas regions in New Mexico have seen an uptick in human鈥慽nduced quakes, the Socorro area has a long, well鈥慸ocumented natural history of seismicity.
鈥淲e do see faults slipping and earthquakes,鈥� Litherland said. 鈥淏ut the magma body is deep, so we haven鈥檛 seen magma coming to the surface. Mostly, we just see it in these earthquakes.鈥�
Litherland encouraged residents to practice basic earthquake safety.
鈥淚f they feel an earthquake, they should drop, cover and hold on. They can report the earthquake they felt at the USGS 鈥楧id you feel it?鈥� website.鈥�
The recent influx of earthquakes in the Socorro area raises the question if similar tremors could be felt in sa国际传媒官网网页入口.
鈥淭here is absolutely a chance of earthquakes in the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 metro area,鈥� Litherland said.
There were a couple earthquakes on sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 West Side in 2024, and the largest ever in the state鈥檚 largest city registered a 4.7 in the 1970s, she said.
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 sits on the Rio Grande Rift, which essentially follows the river. The rift is slowly spreading to the east and west, which could lead to seismic activity, though the rift is not likely to create significant earthquakes.
鈥淭he short answer is (sa国际传媒官网网页入口 earthquakes are) possible, but pretty unlikely,鈥� she said.
Aubrie Moore is an intern with the New Mexico Local News Fellowships and Internships Program, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across New Mexico. Learn more atnewmexicolocalnewsfellowships.org.
