The consequences of the 7.7 earthquake that shook Mexico last Monday were felt in Devils Hole, a cave system in Death Valley National Park in Nevada.
The 7.7 earthquake that shook central Mexico on September 19 caused a kind of tsunami in the desert in Nevada, 2,000 kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake, where the waters of the Devils Hole cave experienced a series of unusual waves, reports the US National Park Service.
The ‘seiche’ (the term used to describe this type of wave) originated five minutes after the beginning of the earthquake in Mexico and in half an hour the waves reached a height of 1.2 meters .
Wow, mother nature: the seisme au Mexique de lundi (7.7) caused a “tsunami” (one seiche) in the desert of the Vallee de la mort, 2,400 km away, with a wander of 1m20 observed Devils Hole, une grotte que donne sur un bassin geothermique.(source: @NatlParkService) pic.twitter.com/APiYOCBm7v
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) September 23, 2022
Devils Hole is a partially water-filled limestone cave in Death Valley National Park. The cave is deep and features unique flora and fauna, such as the cyprinodontids, endangered fish that depend for food on algae that grow on a shallow, sunlit shelf.
The ‘tsunami’ did not kill any fish, but the waves removed some of the algae, creating a short-term feeding problem. However, Kevin Wilson, an aquatic ecologist with the National Park Service, clarified that “cyprinodontids have survived several of these events in recent years.”
The earthquake this Monday in Mexico left two dead and 10 injured, in addition to damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure in Michoacan and Colima. The earthquake coincided with the anniversary of other serious earthquakes that took place on the same date in the years 1985 and 2017.
Source: RT
