Recent quake impacts Devils Hole
The 7.1 magnitude earthquake on July 5 impacted Devils Hole, the National Park Service reported on its web page.
“The waves created by the earthquake caused the water to raise and drop at least 10-15 feet,” a statement on the page said. “There were not any stranded pupfish found Saturday morning. The fish seem to be in good condition with spawning behavior occurring.”
In all, 15-20 fish were observed on the shelf on Saturday morning, the statement said.
“Program staff, as well as cooperating agencies, visited the site to conduct several ‘recovery’ actions, the Park Service added.
Death Valley National Park posted a video that showed “views above and below ground of the pool of water and shallow shelf as the earthquake shaking impacts the area, including water level dropping and rising rapidly and water turbidity.”
That video can be seen on the Death Valley National Park Facebook page or on the National Park Service web page available at bit.ly/2y4Nw1C on the internet.
Devils Hole — a detached unit of Death Valley National Park — is habitat for the only naturally occurring population of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish. “The 40-acre unit is a part of the Ash Meadows complex, an area of desert uplands and springfed oases designated a national wildlife refuge in 1984,” the description adds.
