Wonder how much this disrupted supply? Hate to be AU now with quake problems near by Colorado location & strike more near in S.A.? (will try & call & see if there was damage at their site). Only a few miles from Woodland Park to Cripple Creek / Victor.
Gazette Telegraph
Small earthquake hits hills
Residents shaken a bit in Teller County
By Becca Blond/The Gazette
Peg Benzenhoefer was sitting in her Woodland Park home Sunday afternoon when she felt her chair tip forward and the ground jolt.
The California native thought she was imagining an earthquake, but she wasn't.
For a few seconds around 1:22 p.m., the earth beneath Woodland Park, Divide and Florissant shook from a quake that measured magnitude 3.1.
No damage or injuries were reported, officials with the Teller County Sheriff's Office said.
"I'm from California, and we have earthquakes all the time there," Benzenhoefer said. "This was just a tiny one, and I thought I felt an earthquake, but then I said 'No, you're just imagining it.'"
Florissant resident Geri DiMatteo and her son were in their home when the earthquake began.
"The whole house shook, and it felt like a car ran into the house," she said. "I lost my balance for a second -- it shook the house so hard I had to take a step forward. I ran outside. I thought a plane had crashed. I just never thought of having an earthquake around here."
But many residents said they didn't feel the ground move at all.
"There was an earthquake?" said Trish Chambers of Woodland Park. "I was working outside along (Colorado) Highway 67, and I didn't feel anything."
Whether or not they felt the quake, many residents said they never expected earthquakes in Colorado.
"It's the last thing I think of when I think of Colorado," DiMatteo said. "It makes me nervous to think they can happen here."
But quakes can and do happen here more frequently than most people realize. Since 1870, more than 400 earthquakes, too small to cause much damage, have struck Colorado.
"It's normal to have small earthquakes in this area," said John Minsch, a geophysicist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden. "We've probably had about 6-10 (quakes) in the last decade."
The last time earthquakes shook the area was on Jan. 18, 1997, when three small quakes centered just north of Woodland Park startled Ute Pass residents.
While small quakes are common to Colorado, experts say a quake of catastrophic proportions is unlikely.
Colorado is rated a "zone one" for earthquake potential on a scale of zero to four, with four having the greatest potential for quakes. California is a zone four.
But experts say it isn't out of the realm of possibility that a quake registering as much as a 6 magnitude could strike the region. The quake that struck Los Angeles with devastating force in January 1994, twisting freeways and collapsing buildings, measured a 6.7.
"The largest earthquake we know of in Colorado was in the 1800s with a magnitude near 6.5," Minsch said. "There's always a possibility of that occurring again, but we just don't know. It could be in 100 years. It could be in 1,000 years."
The region surrounding Colorado Springs has three active fault lines -- the Oil Creek, Ute Pass and Rampart Range faults.
The Oil Creek fault stretches from west of Cheyenne Mountain through Divide and north toward Deckers.
The Ute Pass fault starts south of Cheyenne Mountain, travels north, wrapping around the base of the mountain, then veers west at Bear Creek Park. It continues along the west side of Manitou Springs and through the pass.
The Rampart Range fault begins near the intersection of U.S. Highway 24 and South 24th Street and runs north through Garden of the Gods, along the edge of the Front Range through the Air Force Academy and across the Palmer Divide.
Seismologists use a magnitude scale to express the seismic energy released by each earthquake:
Less than 3.5 -- Generally not felt, but recorded.
3.5-5.4 -- Often felt, but rarely causes damage.
6.0 -- At most, slight damage to well-designed buildings. Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions.
6.1-6.9 -- Can be destructive in areas up to about 62 miles across where people live.
7.0-7.9 -- Major earthquake. Can cause serious damage over larger areas.
8 or greater -- Great earthquake. Can cause serious damage in areas more than 100 miles across.
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