Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Could Be Generated By California Fault
A study shows that California fault, approximately from San Diego Bay going to Los Angeles can cause a magnitude 7.4 earthquake.
A study released on Tuesday (March 07, 2017), concluded that Newport-Inglewood and Rose Canyon System were forming a continuous fault under the sea of San Diego Bay going to Seal Beach in Orange County and Los Angeles Basin.
It also shows that the fault has significant danger to the coastal Southern California and Tijuana, Mexico. The fault could generate up to magnitude 7.4 earthquake, according to the study by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
The lead author of the study ‘Valerie Sahakian’ said that even an average earthquake hit the fault, it might cause major impact to the entire region.
“This system is mostly offshore but never more than four miles from the San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles County coast,” said by Sahakian during a press release from the American Geophysical Union quoted by Inquirer.
The latest major rupture in the fault occurred in 1933 in Long Beach, which produced a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, which took the lives of at least 115 people.
The previous data and new seismic activities were included in the study. The four offset segments of the fault were also studied by the researchers and found out that the disconnection between the fault is not long enough to prevent rupturing the entire region.
The researchers also concluded that there are almost 3 to 5 ruptures happened in the past 11, 000 years in the northern section and one quake 400 years ago at the South.
Southern California Edison funded the study, which was assisted by the researchers from Nevada Seismological Laboratory. The American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research has accepted the study for publication.
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