Study expands earthquake threat in N.M.

No one in New Mexico is immune.

While we do not see a lot of earthquakes in our state, what a University of New Mexico professor has found is blowing away what was once thought about New Mexico and earthquakes.

When you think of earthquakes you usually think of California, but the Land of Enchantment and Colorado are in active earthquake zones.

Video from August out of Trinidad, Colo., not far from the New Mexico state line shows grocery items thrown off the shelf.

Buildings even sustained some damage when the magnitude 5.3 quake struck.

Professor Mousumi Roy with UNM's Physics and Astronomy Department just wrapped up a six-year study on regional quakes like the one in Trinidad.

Roy and her team have monitored underground GPS sensors throughout the state and in Colorado.

It was thought that the area most prone to earthquakes would be along the Rio Grande Rift, an area that cuts under Albuquerque, Socorro and all the way down to Texas, but Roy's new research shows that a quake could hit anywhere in New Mexico.

"What our work shows is the entire region is active," Roy said. "Just because you are not in the Rio Grande Rift doesn't mean you shouldn't expect earthquake activity."

New Mexico has about 12 or fewer earthquakes each year in the small magnitude 2.0-3.0 range.

For comparison, the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 is estimated at magnitude 7.9, and the tsunami-producing Japan quake last year was measured at 9.0.

Roy said even though they know where earthquakes are likely to strike, it is very hard to predict when they will happen.