The University of Utah Seismograph Stations reports that four minor earthquakes of magnitude (M) 0.7 to 1.0 have occurred in northeastern Salt Lake City during the last eight days. The first two earthquakes occurred on Sunday, September 2, at 02:13 am (M 0.7) and 10:33 am (M 1.0) MDT. They were followed by an M 1.0 shock on Thursday, September 6, at 8:43 pm MDT and an M 0.8 shock at 3:48 pm MDT on Saturday, September 8. These four earthquakes occurred near the southeastern part of the University of Utah campus at shallow depths of less than 3.5 miles.
Residents of northeastern Salt Lake City have reported feeling and/or hearing these earthquakes, in some cases describing the noise as a loud boom. Earthquakes, especially very shallow ones, can generate noises that sound like booms or thunder to those nearby. The sound is generated by seismic waves vibrating the ground surface up and down like a loudspeaker.
Small magnitude seismic activity like the recent activity in northestern Salt Lake City is a common occurrence in the Wasatch Front region. The location of this recent activity appears to be too far east for it to be occurring on the Wasatch fault.
Anyone who felt or heard any of these earthquakes is encouraged to fill out a survey form which is available on the US Geological Survey website at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/da