USGS installs earthquake monitoring equipment

USGS and Tulane University scientists install a temporary earthquake monitoring site to monitor aftershock activity. Credit: USGS.

COUSHATTA, La. - The U.S. Geological Survey has a team in Red River Parish installing new equipment to aid in detecting earthquakes. 

Their work comes as even more earthquakes have been reported around the Coushatta and Edgefield areas. 

The latest series of earthquakes happened early Monday morning. Just after 4:30 a.m., the USGS recorded four -- initially ranging from 3.1 to 4.0 -- northeast and northwest of Edgefield.

Since then, the USGS has upgraded one of the quakes from 4.0 to 4.4 magnitude. 

About 9 p.m. Sunday, a magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 3 miles southwest of Coushatta at a depth of 3 miles, according to the USGS. 

This comes after a magnitude 4.9 earthquake was reported in the same area last week. 

Bill Barnhart, PhD, who serves as assistant coordinator of the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, said the USGS has a field team along with Tulane University researchers working over the weekend to upgrade and install seismic monitoring equipment. More stations were expected to be installed Monday and Tuesday. 

"The new equipment is being installed to provide more precise earthquake locations, to detect smaller earthquakes that are likely happening but that are difficult to detect, and to provide data to the broader scientific community and public that can be used to study these earthquakes," Barnhart told KTBS.