A reference map from the L.A. Times (click here)
This is the map from the USGS (click here). The last earthquake in the region anywhere occurred over a week ago. Not until one looks to California and primarily Southern California are there current seismic activity.
The mining collapse occurred three days ago on August 6, 2007.
6 miners trapped in collapsed Utah mine; cave-in was mistaken for minor earthquake (click here)
From the Associated Press
6:28 PM PDT, August 6, 2007
HUNTINGTON, Utah -- Hundreds of rescuers broke through walls of rock today in a desperate race to reach six coal miners trapped 1,500 feet below ground by a cave-in so powerful authorities initially thought it was an earthquake.Hours after the collapse, which did not appear related to an explosion, searchers had been unable to contact the miners and could not say whether they were dead or alive. If they survived, a mine executive said, they could have enough air and water to last several days.
This mine is part of the "Manti la Sal National Forest." The mine is under lease from the Department of the Interior. The mine can be closed down and the lease revoked for the rhetorical lying of the mine operator.
The instability of coal mines are well known (click here, the animation below is at the end of this article as well). This is not an unknown science. As a rule the 'characteristics' of coal (click here)do not lend itself to stability so much as instability.
Coal basics reveals the high level of water involved in coal's geological formations (click here). Mountains leak. Water runs between the rock formations. Soil absorbs water, rock does not. Rock is slippery when wet.
Retreat mining (click here for animation) should be outlawed in the USA and this is a prime example why.
US coal mine collapse traps six (click here)
...The US Geological Survey reported a 4.0 magnitude earthquake at the moment of the mine collapse, prompting speculation that the quake had triggered the cave-in.
But the USGS National Earthquake Information Center raised the possibility that the collapse could have caused a seismic wave.
"If you have a mine collapse, there will be a seismic component," said the organisation's Harley Benz.
"We simply don't know at this point," he said, adding that it could take 48 hours to analyse the information.
At least half a dozen other mine collapses since 1995 have caused similar seismic waves.
One in south-western Wyoming had a magnitude of 5.4.
There is blame to be laid on the shoulders of the mine operator. It was the mining methods that lead to this collapse. In the Bush Years the Department of Interior literally opened lands that should never have been made available in the first place. If this is the 'type' of mining to be used on those lands there has to be reconsideration of all the leases established under this administration and assessed for geological instability as related to threat to workers. Mining methods have to be scrutinized for safety. This is known science and is just a matter of applying assessment to the leased lands and whether proposed methods will cause danger to miners.
In my opinion, the digging can go on at the Crandall Canyon Mine for the next year without finding another open mining area. I would not be surprised if the 'elevation' of the mountain over the mine is actually lower today as opposed to last week. If that is the case, the miners have probably been buried in the collapse and it isn't a matter of 'just finding them' so much as the actual ability to 'safely find them.'
