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California Faults Are Under Their Highest Stress in 1,000 Years, Stoking Fears of the ‘Big One’
gizmodo ^ | 06/09/2026 | Ellyn Lapointe

Posted on 06/10/2026 6:41:20 AM PDT by BenLurkin

The critical role of Cajon Pass

Cajon Pass is the tectonically complex junction where the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults converge. It’s located near several densely populated communities, including Los Angeles, San Bernadino, Riverside, and Coachella Valley.

Burkhard and her colleagues determined that Cajon Pass can act as a so-called “earthquake gate,” controlling whether large ruptures remain confined to a single fault or cross both fault systems.

When stress on both faults accumulates simultaneously toward similarly high levels, it’s more likely that a large joint rupture will cross both systems, according to the study.

The model showed that stress has reached 3.6 megapascals (MPa) on the San Jacinto-Bernadino section, the highest level seen anywhere in the 1,000-year simulation. Meanwhile, the neighboring Mojave South section of the San Andreas fault has accumulated 2.8 MPa of stress, indicating that both segments are under similarly high levels of strain.

Again, this study does not predict when the next major earthquake could rock Southern California, nor does it show that such an event is necessarily imminent. Rather, it offers a clearer picture of the region’s seismic hazard. This critically stressed fault system could rupture at any time, so communities need to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: california; ohnoanyway

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To: BenLurkin
The Pacific Plate won’t move just north. It will also lift 5-10 feet severing every track, road, aqueduct.

If we put enough cinder blocks on the edge, we might be able to keep it from lifting.

21 posted on 06/10/2026 7:32:56 AM PDT by Lazamataz (The quickest and easiest way to untold riches is to be elected to national office.)
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To: sauropod

Bkmk


22 posted on 06/10/2026 7:33:37 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: BenLurkin

I guess the thrust of this article is to watch for the strike, and don’t slip!


23 posted on 06/10/2026 7:46:06 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: Pete Dovgan

You mean $700 loans???


24 posted on 06/10/2026 7:46:27 AM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: BenLurkin

Well, we know what the Newsom-Bass team can do when it comes to wildfires which is absolutely nothing. Earthquakes there should be interesting with Newsom-Bass on the case.


25 posted on 06/10/2026 7:46:34 AM PDT by chuckee
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To: Carry_Okie

Ping!


26 posted on 06/10/2026 7:48:38 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: Keyhopper

You mean $700 loans???

Yea that, and the confiscation of any and all private aid sent to help. The grounding of all small drones meant to deliver medications and food to trapped people. That stuff.


27 posted on 06/10/2026 7:51:24 AM PDT by Pete Dovgan
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To: BenLurkin

Woo Hoo! Let’s see the fatass Afrikaner talk her way out of this disaster. Even her Ramen Noodle won’t be able to purge Bass’s ass outta this one.


28 posted on 06/10/2026 7:51:39 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (No Kings. No Fuhrers either. Tell the lobster heads to keep Adolph the Nazi out of Congress!!!)
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To: BenLurkin

Imgur nuked all my memes. Does anyone have the “Oh noz” gif?


29 posted on 06/10/2026 8:00:35 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence." -Marx the Smarter (Groucho.))
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To: Lazamataz
- If we put enough cinder blocks on the edge, we might be able to keep it from lifting. -

Check with Hank Johnson... he knows something about keeping things level. ;-)

30 posted on 06/10/2026 8:02:25 AM PDT by ken in texas
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To: j.havenfarm
Caused by global warming

Maybe. But can't at least some of the blame be shifted to Benjamin Netanyahu and his band of scheming Israelis? And the MAGA movement? Remember that MAGA is very similar to magma and that ties them to destructive earthquakes!

31 posted on 06/10/2026 8:08:17 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt (Fascist, deplorable, and proud of it!)
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To: BenLurkin

Really? I didn’t know they had the ability to measure fault stress 1,000 years ago.


32 posted on 06/10/2026 8:10:01 AM PDT by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN and HATE-DRIVEN, not-truth driven)
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To: Bernard

West of the fault, on the Pacific Plate side.


33 posted on 06/10/2026 8:17:22 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer

bASSes Fault.


34 posted on 06/10/2026 8:18:48 AM PDT by Jane Long (Jesus is Lord!)
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To: Bon of Babble
If the "Big One" hits Los Angeles, how would anyone even know?

The street dwellers may see no difference but those under bridges might.



35 posted on 06/10/2026 8:27:16 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: BenLurkin

The article “stokes fear” of the big one, but that’s just a reaction of the people reading the article. We’re definitely overdue; the last major one was 1857.

But if these models with which the time-scale movie was made are accurate, We’re definitely overdue. On the main fault lime, large earthquakes, nearly completely relieving the pressure, strike every 90 to 120 years. The fault has been building pressure for almost 170 years. The 1857 quake, a 7.9, was 120 years after the previous one to relieve pressure on the North side.

[Quick explanation: In 1857, the entire fault shown in the video slipped, releasing pressure on the entire fault shown. Sometimes, a huge section slides, but not the entire thing. The South side had slipped in 1812, but the North side hadn’t slipped since 1730. So the North side had far more pressure built up, although the quake was large enough that the South side also released all of its pressure. For the purposes of identifying how long the pressure has been building, the 1857 cleared the pressure along the entire fault.]

Part of the reason the 1857 one was so big was that it did release ALL of the built-up energy along ALL of the fault. But the entire fault has been quiet since then, so the point is there is now more energy built up along the entire fault. It seems like we could expect the last one to be at least as big as the 1857 one (7.9)


36 posted on 06/10/2026 8:33:12 AM PDT by dangus
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To: BenLurkin

Remember that there are some good folks who live in California.


37 posted on 06/10/2026 8:37:06 AM PDT by KittyKares
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To: Pete Dovgan

Word!


38 posted on 06/10/2026 8:38:51 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: BenLurkin

Good to know that they were able to obtain “fault measurements” from a 1000 years ago. Golly gee ! Thank goodness we have experts!


39 posted on 06/10/2026 8:54:16 AM PDT by mythenjoseph (Islam is not compatible within a free society.)
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To: BenLurkin

They’re going to rename them all “Trump’s Fault”.


40 posted on 06/10/2026 8:56:37 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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