Minor earthquake shakes NM, spring overflows

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A minor 3.0-magnitude earthquake that rattled a mountainous area of central New Mexico may have triggered extraordinary flows from a riverside spring about 100 miles away, the state Game and Fish Department says.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the temblor struck Thursday night in the rural San Mateo Mountains northwest of Albuquerque.

No damage at the quake's center was reported. But landowners along the Pecos River in northern New Mexico woke up Friday morning to find a spring near the Tererro campground putting out about five times more water than usual.

The overflowing spring is washing sediment from an adjacent dirt road into the Pecos River, one of the more popular trout fishing spots in New Mexico.

"We're investigating it. We're not sure exactly what happened," Game and Fish spokesman Dan Williams said. "The spring has always flowed but something triggered that spring to start flowing considerably."

Williams said department officials suspect the earthquake could have had something to do with the increased flow, and they could be right, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A USGS analyst said Friday that earthquakes in Alaska have been known to affect groundwater as far away as Colorado so "it wouldn't be entirely bizarre" for that magnitude of quake to have a long-distance impact.

The quake's center, north of the village of Paguate, is about 100 miles from Terrero.

Whether summer rains charged the spring or the earthquake is to blame, the USGS said it would be difficult to prove either way.

Some landowners and anglers who regularly fish the Pecos River said the timing couldn't be worse. Friday afternoon is when most people begin to head to the area for their weekend getaways and traffic on the dirt road is only adding to the sediment flowing into the river.

While some fishing trips were cancelled Friday, river guides said they were confident the water would clear over the weekend.

The cloudy water prompted calls Friday to Game and Fish, the governor's office and members of the state Game Commission.

Williams said Game and Fish will send a crew to Tererro on Saturday to put down cobble in an effort to control the sediment.