New Analysis Reveals ‘Large-Scale Movement’ around San Andreas Fault System
ALERT: New Analysis Reveals ‘Large-Scale Movement’ around San Andreas Fault System – YouTube
Scientists have revealed they have detected “large scale movement” within the San Andreas fault line, prompting fears a mega quake could be on its way.
There is consensus among scientists that a magnitude seven or eight earthquake is overdue on the 800-mile fault that runs through California, because there has not been a significant one since the 7.9 Big One that hit California in 1857, 159 years ago.
Earthquake expert Trevor Nace said: “In earthquake prediction, geologists work in probability distributions rather than absolute terms. Consensus is growing, however, of the likelihood of a large and devastating earthquake to strike California.”
News of the movement detected has led to fears strain in the fault line could be building for another severe tremor.
It was already feared a big one could be brewing after a series of magnitude three and above earthquakes stuck in California in the past fortnight.
The latest came a day before yesterday when a shallow magnitude three earthquake was reported three miles from Big Bear Lake, according to the US Geological Survey, at 9.21pm local time.
Over the last several years, the lobes, which straddle the fault line, have hosted a few millimeters of annual movement.
Computer models simulating the San Andreas Fault System have predicted such crustal movement, but the actual areas of motion hadn’t been physically identified until now.
Researchers used advanced statistical modeling to identify the movement among the inevitable statistical noise that comes with monitoring minute movements in the Earth’s crust.
Samuel Howell, a researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and lead author of the study, said: “While the San Andreas GPS data has been publicly available for more than a decade, the vertical component of the measurements had largely been ignored in tectonic investigations because of difficulties in interpreting the noisy data.
Phys.Org
New analysis reveals large-scale motion around San Andreas Fault System
Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/gojonh8
express.co.uk
‘Large-scale movement’ on San Andreas Fault, prompting fears of major quake
http://tinyurl.com/j6dxxhc
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/06/alert-new-analysis-reveals-large-scale.html
