And now new US Geological Survey data has revealed the site has been plagued with concentrated clusterd of mysterious tremors occurring at relatively shallow depths of 2.5 miles below ground. The quakes ranged in strength from 2.5 to 4.4 on the Richter scale. Area 51 is not close to any major fault lines in the United States, however Nevada itself is listed as the third most active state for seismic activity, and it is a “tectonically active setting”, according to the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology.
Area 51 is also still an active military base and there has been some speculation the quakes could be connected to underground nuclear bomb testing. In October President Donald Trump suddenly announced on social media that “because of other countries nuclear testing programs,” he wanted the “Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.”
It’s not been revealed if the United State’s military has carried out their Commander-in-Chief’s orders, and the Americans are still signatories to the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), along with 186 other countries, which bans all nuclear test explosions.
According to US media reports, geophysicist Stefan Burns described Area 51 as “an unusual place to get an earthquake”.
Access to Area 51 for civilians is strictly denied and the current base is now overseen by the relatively new Space Force wing of the US military. The base has become synonymous with ideas of alien lifeforms and it is a Mecca for UFO spotters.
The UFOs may actually have a more Earth-bound origin as the base has been testing site for the development of classified US aircraft, including the A-12 spy plane, F-117 Nighthawk, and the D-21 drone.
In February this year, former US President Barack Obama said he believed aliens do exist, but he firmly denied that Area 51 houses extraterrestrials.
Speaking in a podcast interview, the former president became the first US leader to openly affirm his belief in life beyond Earth, while simultaneously dispelling longstanding conspiracy theories about the Nevada facility.
Mr Obama said: “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them – and they’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s some enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
