Thanks for all of the good comments here. I'm pretty familiar with the area. The epicenter of the quake is near the terminus of the Pilgrim Creek Road, a popular entry point for hikers and, alas, lumber folks who have clear cut big swathes of our forests. The whole area is covered with lava and pyroclastics from Shasta or other eruptions. Great lava caves...wonderful to explore the area, but not in the winter.

Shasta is one of the most dramatic mountains in the world. It rises about 10000 feet from the base of about 4000 ft, but it is irregular in shape. The slopes are dotted with cinder cones, small shields, and fragments of former Mt. Shastas. I used to call it a "cataclastite" since there are at least four cones that we can map, and probably many more. Each one tends to destroy the mountain before it. It has been around for over 500,000 years and just keeps blowing up or causing major landslides. In fact, one of the biggest slides ever mapped is from a collapse of the northern side of a pre-Shasta mountain...about 300,000 years ago as I recall (too lazy to look it up right now!)

We've got a lot of snow right now, so almost anything could be going on. There really hasn't been too much monitoring of Shasta that I know about. Last big eruption c. 9800 years ago, but it must have been a doozy because it built BOTH the Shastina cone and Black Butte (a quadruple dacite cone 6900 ft high, about 3000 ft from base. I-5 runs right by it.)Possible minor eruption of the Shasta cone about 220 yrs ago, but the hot springs are still active at the summit of Shasta. Some work done about 20 yrs ago suggests 2 hot spots---one near the summit, and the other near Sergeant's Ridge, a long crest remnant of one of the oldest "Shasta" mountains.

I have noted that the College of the Siskiyous in Weed (about 5 miles from here) does have a live seismogram on line, but alas, looks as if it is being swamped by wind. At least I hope those tremors are wind... I don't think that anybody has invested time or money in the mountain for many years.

Haven't even SEEN the top of the mountain for about 2 weeks due to bad weather! I'm not really worried. I think that IF the mountain really began acting up, we'd get a lot of scientists here. Or maybe not. Alas, this isn't the time of year to do any field work around here. Snow can easily be 10 ft or more.

Gives one an odd feeling, however, to note a quake so near this potentially dangerous place. We've had swarms before, but nothing really threatening. If anybody hasn't read "Fire Mountains of the West" I would recommend it. Book by Stephen Harris---the scenario of a big Shasta eruption for California is fascinating. Of course, I wouldn't have to worry about it cuz I'd be toast. But I always tell folks that I'd be the first one out of here if quakes and other signs began. Gives them a sense of security, I guess. (Grins)