Most of Arizona has experienced low levels of recorded
seismicity, but a comprehensive analyses of seismic activity
revealed that nearly 1,000 earthquakes have rattled the stated
over the past three years. Researchers at ASU's School of Earth
and Science Exploration used new seismic data collected as part
of the EarthScope project to develop methods to detect and
locate small magnitude earthquakes across the entire state.
EarthScope's USArray Transportable Array was deployed in Arizona
and provided the first opportunity to examine seismicity on a
statewide scale. Its increased sensitivity allowed researchers
to find almost 1,000 earthquakes during a three-year period,
including many in regions of Arizona that were previously
thought to be seismically inactive. One-thousand earthquakes
over three years may sound alarmingly high, but ninety-one
percent of the quakes detected were "microquakes" with a
magnitude of 2.0 or smaller. These quakes are typically not felt
by humans. The largest earthquakes and the majo