At 11:50 p.m., November 28, 1989, the Sevilleta, New Mexico, LTER was the epicenter of a small earthquake -- 4.5 on the Richter scale. Local residences and businesses suffered some minor structural damage.
Although another quake of the same magnitude struck the area in January of this year, no damage to the Sevilleta has been discovered.
Some weather stations, which were not recording properly, had to be checked following the November event, but it is not clear if this was a related malfunction.
Site personnel are currently checking for new debris dams in the streams of site watersheds, as well as other signs of impacts.