Dec 5, 2012

M2.7 Explosion in Bend, Oregon

This ties in with the preceeding article.  Strange explosions noted in Bend, Oregon, one with an accompanying 2.7 magnitude earthquake.  But no concerns, apparently, even though this area is highly active seismically, and much of it sits over possible sites for future volcanic venting?  Strange stuff indeed.

You think anybody noticed? This zero depth “Quarry Blast” took place November 29, 2012, detailed here:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uw60490146#summary

This event took place remarkably close to Pilot Butte.



Three more interesting recent events in Bend:
Friday, November 16 at 5:45 PM local time, the Pine Tavern is evacuated because of a “potentially explosive gas leak”.
http://www.ktvz.com/news/Explosive-gas-levels-clear-Bend-s-Pine-Tavern/-/413192/17453480/-/14b4rfnz/-/index.html

On November 13 and 14, two earthquakes attributed to explosions in Bend, Oregon are registered on the USGS web site. I haven’t found any news stories for the relatively small quakes and there are no personal accounts of anything strange occurring on Twitter.

Notice that the events are 1 day and 2 seconds apart:

Tuesday November 13, magnitude 2.8 at 4:49:54 PM.
http://www.pnsn.org/event/60474147#overview
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uw60474147#technical_contributed-solutions

Wednesday November 14, magnitude 2.1 at 4:49:52 PM.
http://www.pnsn.org/event/60474672#overview
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uw60474672#technical

The coinciding times of the two above explosions suggest the events were triggered intelligently. Both events occurred at the exact same time of day (within 2 seconds). Epicenters for the events are 1.75 miles apart.

USGS attributes the events as a “Quarry Explosion” because they occur at zero depth, however the Metolius Rock Quarry, nearest to Bend, is 41 miles away. The horizontal uncertainty (margin of error for location) of the two events is 1.37 kilometers and 2.73 kilometers.


More Thoughts
Remember the explosion in Indianapolis that wiped out 30 houses? The USGS shows no seismic events within the same time frame of that November 10, 2012 event.
I think an explosion that can destroy so many houses would register seismically, however in Bend; a magnitude 2.7 blast destroys no houses.

Curiously, the Indianapolis “explosion” is now being investigated as a homicide. There is no motive, but ubiquitous white truck sittings occurred conveniently prior. http://www.wandtv.com/story/20143481/ind-home-explosion-now-homicide-investigation
Would anyone in Bend like to shed some light?