Residents & Experts Confused By Mysterious Earthquake In Colorado

An earthquake that shook southeast Colorado on early Monday morning (September 13) is being called a mystery.

The magnitude 3.8 quake was detected at 3:27 A.M. around five miles northwest of Pritchett in Baca County, reports 9NEWS.

Apparently, that was a relatively strong earthquake for the state of Colorado. In the last two decades, only 10 other quakes have been stronger.

The other thing seismologists are confused about is the unusual location. According to 9NEWS, only seven earthquakes have been recorded in this part of the state since 1989.

“I would definitely just put this one in the currently mysterious category,” Kyren Bogolub, a seismologist with the Colorado Geological Survey told 9NEWS.

Bogolub says there are no known fault lines in Baca County that would have triggered the earthquake.

“Just because we don’t know about a fault being there, doesn’t mean that there isn’t one," she said. "In fact, earthquakes are often a good way that we find faults.”

It's also possible this one was a "human-induced" earthquake which is mainly caused when wastewater from oil and gas operations gets injected back into the earth, or fracking.

However, Bogolub believes this quake was likely not human-induced.

Despite the 3.8 magnitude, there has been no damage reported from Monday's earthquake.