‘Big One’ Looms As Quake Swarm Strikes Southern California “In The Worrry Zone”

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Just five months ago, experts warned that “the springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very,
very tight. And the southern San Andreas fault, in particular, looks
like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go.”
And now, as The LA Times reports, a rapid succession of more than 200 small earthquakes began rupturing near Bombay Beach, at the southern tip of the San Andreas fault, continuing for more than 24 hours.

The temblors were not felt over a very large area, but, as The LA Times continues, they have garnered intense interest — and concern — among seismologists.

It marked only the third time since earthquake sensors were installed there in 1932 that the area had seen such a swarm, and this one had more earthquakes than the events of 2001 and 2009.

 

The quakes occurred in one of California’s most seismically complex areas. They hit in a seismic zone just south of where the mighty San Andreas fault ends. It is composed of a web of faults that scientists fear could one day wake up the nearby San Andreas from its long slumber.

 

The San Andreas fault’s southernmost stretch has not ruptured since about 1680 — more than 330 years ago, scientists estimate. And a big earthquake happens on average in this area once every 150 or 200 years, so experts think the region is long overdue for a major quake.

The swarm actually increased the likelihood of a much more major quake in Southern California, at least temporarily.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, for the seven-day period following Tuesday, the chances of a magnitude-7 or greater earthquake being triggered on the southern San Andreas fault are as high as 1 in 100 and as low as 1 in 3,000. The chances diminish over time.

Experts said it’s important to understand that the chance of the swarm triggering a big one, while small, was real.

“This is close enough to be in that worry zone,” seismologist Lucy Jones said of the location of the earthquake swarm. “It’s a part of California that the seismologists all watch.”

 


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Ghost

We have been promised earthquakes and financial crashes for years. tap.tap.tap…

New Madrid is about a 100 miles away from where I live in Missouri… In 1911, the Mississippi River changed its route and flowed backward for hours when that big one hit. According to the map, Nick and I will be on the “new” Gulf of Mexico when the New Madrid Fault erupts with the “big one.”

My personal opinion is that when the San Andreas goes, the shock will trigger the New Madrid quake and the resultant Tsunami will turn my front yard into beachfront property.

Chicago999444
Chicago999444

That 8mm earthquake on the New Madrid was in 1812, and naturalist John James Audobon witnessed it as he was traveling through the upper south, and wrote about how the ground just rolled. If St. Louis, which in 1812 was still a small village, had been as developed as it was to be in 1911, it would have been leveled.

Ghost

I didn’t know the local newspaper archive was that old… I did a report on the “big” New Madrid fault when I was a kid and used actual local newspapers (very old indeed) to put the report together. Maybe another in 1911?

unit472
unit472

Earthquakes get all the hype in California but even a major quake is going to kill relatively few people. It will be the property damage that will make it ‘memorable’.

OTOH, someday a real wildfire will get out of control and it will be devastating. The Berkeley/Oakland Hills fire came close burning down more than 3000 ( expensive) homes and roasting a few dozen people. I probably shouldn’t mention this but a terrorist could do a lot more damage with a Bic than an AR-15 and if you had two or three organizing their mayhem a holocaust could sweep through the Bay Area or SoCal that would equal 9/11.

Gayle
Gayle

Unit 472-

Shhh.

gilberts
gilberts

Actually, I’ve heard rumors in the past that some of the wildfires around the west were being lit by saboteurs/anarchists. It would be a very low-risk, low-cost, lucrative asymmetrical form of warfare to just drive around and light fires.

randy
randy
JIMSKI
JIMSKI

Ok just got to mention this. If Californication has a big one based on it’S OUTSIZED electoral count do we just pause the election until all the dead folks vote for the demon princess ? Defacto 3rd term for head demon prince?

What? I want answers.

randy
randy

No Jim….state of emergency, martial law, the election is postponed…revelations man…

Dutchman
Dutchman

My biggest fear is that ‘the big one’ drives hoards of California residents into other states. I hope the lazy bastards don’t come to Minnesota. We have enough problems with the Somali’s.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

I read somewhere that Americans love to scare themselves.
Old Sarge said that the extraordinary is always on the other coast.
When I was in Florida, he said, we always heard about California girls.
I come here and the talk is all about Florida girls.

I’m sure there are plenty of assholes and lazy bastards in Minnesota.
The last time anybody worthwhile came out from Minn, the Lakers came to LA.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

We are right on the line here in Palmdale. Then it goes to San Berdu and the Inland Empire. There isn’t much in the Salton Sea area. Lots of farming in America’s salad bowl, as the Imperial Valley is called, but it’s mostly small towns.

I suspect the Northridge quake, originally 7.5 then upgraded to 8.3 was ‘the big one’. We had had a series of minor quakes that we felt for a period of about 7 years, maybe less. But since the Northridge quake, things have been quiet in that area. We still have wildfires. Back when it used to rain, we also had mudslides that followed on the heels of a wildfire.

Mesomorph
Mesomorph

I’m not afraid of earthquakes until they are big enough to knock the EBT system offline. Things will go from thrilling with a few casualties to absolute chaos.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Yeah, Meso. Earthquakes are only scary for people caught in a falling house, building or bridge. If the shaking sets off the chimps, well what doesn’t set them off anymore?

For the record, I use the term nigger but I’m not a racist. I’m a chimpist. I’m prejudiced against chimps.

Boat Guy
Boat Guy

What ever earthquake , volcano , fire , flood , tsunami natural shit happens ! Live near the ocean you may get hit by a hurricane . Live near the river , flood ! Near the mountains , rock or mud slides . Live near a volcano and poof vapor . Live near a known fault line earth quake and all the above is major damage and maybe death .

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