SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah seismologist, Jamie Farrell, joined Dan Evans and Kerri Cronk on Good Day Utah Thursday morning to discuss the 4.2 aftershock that struck at 7:41 a.m.
He was asked if a pair of sizable aftershocks nearly a month after the original 5.7 quake has any significance.
"Well keep in mind we had a couple of 4.6 aftershocks early in the sequence, so this seems a bit unusual just because it's been a while since we felt a relatively large earthquake in this sequence," Farrell sad. "But a 4.2 at this point isn't necessarily out of the realm of possibilities, it's not totally unusual although the one the other night, given the way that the sequence was going and dying off, is a little bit unexpected, but not totally unusual."
Farrell did say Tuesday night's 4.2 might have caused a bit of chain reaction.
"The 4.2 we had the other night might have chained a little bit, you know, triggered this event, but they're all still considered aftershocks from the 5.7."
Even if that is the case, Farrell said none of this is anything out of the ordinary.
"The 4.2 from the other night could have definitely caused an increase in the number of events," he said. "But having events out this far is not unusual at all. Some aftershock sequences last weeks, some last months, there are some that last years."
