Mexacali Quake may have increased chances of catastrophic California Quake in the next year or two
Posted by JAC on 7/11/2010, 7:26 am
The 7.2 Mexicali quake on April 4 may have put more pressure on faults resulting in more quakes in Southern California, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Wednesday's 5.4 quake was centered in the San Jacinto fault zone, and experts warned the Mexico quake transferred pressure from the Mexico border to the San Jacinto fault and the Elsinore fault, the LAT reported.

"The probability of a larger earthquake on those faults could be high within the next year or two," John Rundle, a professor of physics and geology at UC Davis told the LAT.

According to the LAT, experts are particularly concerned because the northern edges of the Elsinore and San Jacinto fault zones line up near the Whittier fault, which runs into Orange and Los Angeles counties, and the San Andreas fault. Both faults could produce catastrophic quakes, the LAT reported.



This M5.4 earthquake follows the 4th of April 2010, Easter Sunday, Mw7.2 earthquake, located about 125 miles to the south, well south of the US Mexico international border. A M4.9 earthquake occurred in the same area on June 12th at 8:08 pm (Pacific Time). Thus this section of the San Jacinto fault remains active.

Seismologists are watching two major earthquake faults in southern California. The San Jacinto fault, the most active earthquake fault in southern California, extends for more than 100 miles from the international border into San Bernardino and Riverside, a major metropolitan area often called the Inland Empire. The Elsinore fault is more than 110 miles long, and extends into the Orange County and Los Angeles area as the Whittier fault. The Elsinore fault is capable of a major earthquake that would significantly affect the large metropolitan areas of southern California. The Elsinore fault has not hosted a major earthquake in more than 100 years. The occurrence of these earthquakes along the San Jacinto fault and continued aftershocks demonstrates that the earthquake activity in the region remains at an elevated level. The San Jacinto fault is known as the most active earthquake fault in southern California. Caltech and USGS seismologist continue to monitor the on going earthquake activity using the Caltech/USGS Southern California Seismic Network and a GPS network of more than 100 stations.





http://www.scsn.org/2010collinsvalley.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake-20100710,0,2014096.story

http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/tag/california-the-big-one-earthquake





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Earthquake warning for California fault line proves accurate - JAC, 7/9/2010, 12:53 pm
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