Earthquake Shifts California Fault Line
An earthquake strikes Ridgecrest, California. (Wikimedia Commons)
In a recent study, researchers used satellite imagery and seismic instruments to observe the effects of the Ridgecrest earthquakes that occurred on July 4, according to Science Daily. The Ridgecrest earthquakes were a series of earthquakes that began with a magnitude 6.4 foreshock in the Mojave Desert before a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the next day.
There were more than 100,000 aftershocks from those two earthquakes alone, Science Daily reports. This increased stress on the Garlock Fault, a major earthquake fault line that has been dormant for at least a century. Experts estimate that nearby naval facilities will require billions of dollars to repair, according to CNN.
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) showed how the Ridgecrest earthquakes and aftershocks caused “a seismic creep” along a 12- to 16-mile section of the Garlock Fault, which runs east to west from the San Andreas Fault to Death Valley, crossing the Ridgecrest area.
“The Garlock Fault has been quiet for a long time,” an assistant professor in the University of Iowa Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says. “But there’s geologic evidence that there have been large earthquakes on it. It’s a major fault line.”
The Garlock Fault is considered a seismic risk, Science Daily finds.
The USGS says there is a 31 percent chance that a 7.5-magnitude earthquake will strike Los Angeles sometime in the next 30 years, CNN reports, possibly impacting more than 10 million people.
The southern San Andreas Fault typically sees large quakes every 150 years. The last one occurred in 1857, meaning that segment is considered a “likely location for an earthquake.”
The next big earthquake that will trigger the fault line is impossible to predict. The USGS urges California residents to stay prepared by checking and fortifying their home’s infrastructure, and keeping an adequate supply of food, water and fuel in case of an emergency.