About five minutes after the 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit near Mexico's southwest coast Monday, typically calm water deep in a Death Valley National Park cave started sloshing against the surrounding limestone rock.
The reverberations from the earthquake more than 1,500 miles away created what experts have called a"desert tsunami," which on Monday madeerupt up to 4 feet high in the cave known as Devils Hole, a pool of water about 10 feet wide, 70 feet long and more than 500 feet deep, in Amargosa Valley, Nevada.
Interestingly, the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that also hit Mexico's southwest coast early Thursday—not far from Monday's epicenter—did not agitate the water or create any waves in Devils Hole, said Kevin Wilson, National Park Service aquatic ecologist. Thursday's earthquake struck outside Aguililla, a small town in the western state of Michoacán, just after 1 a.m., and caused at least two deaths.
But, he said, in the long term, the movement from earthquakes helps remove the buildup of organic matter, which over time, can suck oxygen from the unique ecosystem. Wilson said it's rare for the grown pupfish to die in these events, but said park rangers will continue to provide supplemental feedings for the fish, which have seen resurgence in its population in recent years. In March, officials recorded 175 of the Devils Hole pupfish—up from 35 about a decade ago—and Wilson said the fall count is planned for this weekend.low oxygen levels
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