A swarm of hundreds of small earthquakes has been detected rumbling deep below Mt. Rainier in Washington State early Tuesday morning, though geologists stress there is no cause for concern.
The quakes began just before 1:30 a.m. and have been occurring at a rate of several times per minute, said officials with the US Geological Survey at the Cascade Volcano Observatory.
All the quakes have been occurring between 1.2 and 3.7 miles beneath the summit, and have been small in magnitude.
The largest quake measured so far is 1.7, and none have been felt at the surface.
According to the USGS, quake swarms occur a couple of times a year, on average, under the state’s tallest volcano, though this one is a bit unusual in terms of the number of quakes.
“Currently, there is no indication that the level of earthquake activity is cause for concern, and the alert level