Regarding the Utah mine cave in - Earthquake or not?

Question

The owners of the mine are saying that a earthquake caused the cave in, and that several aftershocks have slowed and stopped rescue efforts afterwards. Several scientists and seismologist are saying that the original earthquake which was picked up on the scales was not a earthqake at all, but vibrations picked up from the cave in of the mine. And the following aftershocks were just further collapses of the cave - and that there have only been a few of these at that.
Who is telling the truth here? Are the mine owners trying to "cover up" a safety failure? Would they go as far as to delay rescue efforts by lying about aftershocks, which did not happen?
Read Here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_on_re_us/mine_collapse_earthquake_4

Answer 1

Having worked in the coal mining industry for over 25 years, I believe that there was no earthquake, the collapse caused the reading. I base this on previous experience in that generally, when a true earthquake does occur, you will usually find small roof falls in the mines near the quake area. Our mine is about 20 miles from from the Genwal mine, and we did not encounter any roof falls or evidence of an earthquake. These so called "seismic events" that they are talking about hampering the rescue efforts are nothing more than the roof still being unstable and have nothing to do with an earthquake. However, you would not want to jeopardize any more lives by sending miners into this highly unstable and dangerous area, thus, resulting in the delays to the rescue effort. Hope this clears some thing up for you.

Answer 2

The seismologist is not telling the whole truth.
In the 24 hours before the cave in there were 3 small earthquakes mag 1.5 to 1.8 within 5 miles of the mine and at a depth of 6 km or greater. These were earthquakes.

Then there was the cave in at a mag 3.9 and 1.6 km

After the cave in there were 6 "earthquake" after shocks at a depth of greater then 3.9 km and one of them was over 5 miles deep.

What they are saying is there was not a earthquake at the time of the 3.9 cave in.

What they are not saying and is misleading is there were earthquakes. happening in the area before and after the cave in. these may have weakened the back (roof) in the mine and caused the cave in.
The quakes before the cave in are why i believe the mine owner.

What the mine owner is saying may well be true. That the cause may have been earthquakes. NOT A EARTHQUAKE.

All the seismologist is saying is at the time of the 3.9 mag event there was no earthquake. and that may also be true. but very misleading.

There may be hours, days, or weeks between the quakes that weakened the back in the mine and the failure point of the cave in.

The fact that the earthquakes "before" and after the cave in were a lot deeper then the cave in.
leads me to believe the mine owner 100%. Over the government.

And the stupidity of the government to post the earth quake records on the USGS earthquake site.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/39.41-112-110_eqs.php

Answer 3

The latest information from Berkeley indicates that the event was a cave-in and not an earthquake. I don't think it is 100% definite, but it is so probable that it is unlikely to change.

You can also look at the seismograph strips and see that there are lots of events going on in the area of the mine. Some of the events were before the 3.9 event, others after.

Answer 4

We might never no which came first. Its hard for me to believe that the cave in caused a tremor of over 4.0, but I'm no expert and anything could be possible. If there are no known faults in the area, I guess that it probably was caused by the cave in.

Answer 5

i myself doubt there are any miners nonetheless alive down there. it may extremely be spectacular if a miner emerged respiratory. After the tragedies the two in Utah and in Kentucky, i think of it extremely is time they heavily look at reforming the mine secure practices rules.