A magnitude 3.8 earthquake struck northern Washoe County near the Oregon border about 200 miles north of Reno just before 2:00 Wednesday afternoon.  It was about 6.6 miles below the surface.  Ken Smith, associate director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory says this is temblor is separate from a cluster of quakes just west of Gerlach in the Black Rock Desert that appears to have quieted down.  The lab has a temporary earthquake monitoring station in the area to help pinpoint locations and magnitudes of the quakes.  It’s not clear what’s causing the quakes, according to Smith. The quakes don’t carry the signature of a volcanic earthquake and there is no surface deformation. The quakes are plates slipping up and down instead of side-to-side.