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SEC' UTHREE Seismotectonic Setting and Historical Seismicity <br /> (1983-1993) (Bolt et al., 2003); and the Advanced National Seismic System(ANSS)catalog for <br /> more recent events. <br /> Colorado is located in a transition zone between the seismically active Basin and Range Province <br /> to the west and the significantly less active, cratonic Midcontinent to the east (Figure 1). The <br /> majority of the historical seismicity in Colorado is located in the western two-thirds of the state, <br /> with relatively few events in the Great Plains east of the Front Range, with the exception of the <br /> induced seismicity at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) near Denver beginning in the mid- <br /> 1960's (Figure 1). Earthquakes up to about Richter magnitude(ML)4, less frequently ML 5, and <br /> swarm activity are commonly observed (Bolt and Wong, 1995). This seismicity appears to be <br /> the result of extensional reactivation of Laramide thrust/reverse faults (Wong et al., 1994). The <br /> apparent concentrated seismicity along the Front Range south of Boulder(Figure 1) is a result of <br /> the Front Range network that operated from 1983 to 1993 for Denver Water. Earthquakes as <br /> small as about ML 1.0 were recorded, in contrast with other parts of the region where the <br /> magnitude threshold is probably ML 3.0(Bolt et al.,2003). <br /> A recent and prominent area of seismicity has been the Raton Basin near Trinidad, Colorado. <br /> The largest event was a M 5.3 earthquake on 22 August 2011 at a shallow depth of 4 km. The <br /> earthquake caused damage to 46 buildings in the sparsely populated epicentral region. The area <br /> has been historically seismically active but the recent seismicity has been located near fluid- <br /> injection wells suggesting a possible induced cause. <br /> 3.2.1 1882 Earthquake <br /> Based on the brief historical record, the largest known earthquake that has occurred within <br /> Colorado is the enigmatic 1882 M 6.6 earthquake (Figure 1). The event occurred in the early <br /> evening of 7 November 1882. It shook most of western and central Colorado, southern <br /> Wyoming and parts of eastern and northern Utah(Figure 5). Although this earthquake has been <br /> studied in great detail because of its size and implications for seismic hazard in Colorado <br /> (Hadsell, 1968; McGuire et al., 1982; Kirkham and Rogers, 1986; Spence et al., 1996), its <br /> location and size remain uncertain and controversial. No associated surface faulting or <br /> deformation was reported or has yet been found. <br /> A high intensity from the earthquake was reported in the Douglas Pass area, north of Grand <br /> Junction, where travelers saw landsliding and rockfalls and could hardly stand up. McGuire et <br /> al. (1982)give this report some credence and assign a Modified Mercalli(MM)intensity of VIII, <br /> whereas Kirkham and Rogers (1986) discount this report as an exaggerated tale and only assign <br /> it as felt at this locality. Landsliding also was reported in the mountains (MM VII-VII), but the <br /> earthquake was only felt with MM III in the town of Pueblo (Figure 5). MM VI intensities have <br /> been assigned to Boulder and Denver in central Colorado, in Rangely, where trees were visibly <br /> shaken, and as far north as Laramie, Wyoming where plaster cracked and windows were broken <br /> (Figure 5). The site may have been shaken at a MM VI level(Figure 5). <br /> The most current and definitive analysis to date on the 1882 earthquake was performed by <br /> Spence et al. (1996). Based on an analysis of the 1984 Laramie Mountains earthquake and <br /> comparison with the 1882 event, they support Kirkham and Rogers (1986) interpretation of a <br /> location in the northern Front Range (Figure 5). They estimate that the magnitude of the 1882 <br /> earthquake was M 6.6±0.3. <br /> w-MNLi8,7 <br />