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California Unlikely to see a quake like Japan's
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/11/11 | David Perlman

Posted on 03/13/2011 2:57:49 PM PDT by americanophile

Earthquakes the size of the one that struck Japan on Friday are highly unlikely ever to hit the California coast, but smaller quakes along the San Andreas or Hayward faults could prove just as devastating, experts say.

No temblor greater than a magnitude 8 is ever likely in California, say scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park.

"But the next big quake in the Bay Area on either the San Andreas or the Hayward will be a $200 billion disaster," warned Thomas M. Brocher, who leads the USGS region's efforts at preparedness for the next Big One.

The San Andreas, which runs for some 810 miles from Cape Mendocino to the Salton Sea, is the state's most dangerous fault because the magnitude of any earthquake is primarily dependent on the length of a fault's rupture zone, explained Ross Stein, a geophysicist at the USGS.

But the north and south segments of the fault are separated by a central stretch of about 100 miles between Hollister and Parkfield in Monterey County, and it is that section that should prevent any earthquake as powerful as the one that struck Japan on Friday. In the Hollister-Parkfield segment, the brittle rock of the Earth's upper crust "is lubricated like talcum powder," Stein said. The result, he said, is a steady creeping motion that acts to relieve the constant buildup of stress within the fault that otherwise could trigger a major temblor along the entire length of the fault.

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


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Science
KEYWORDS: california; earthquake; sanandreas
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To: oh8eleven
just like every months unemployment numbers, I would expect a lot of “unexpected” to be in any articles written after the next California quake.
21 posted on 03/13/2011 3:34:38 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama = Carter 2.0 The Epic Fail Edition)
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To: americanophile

Caltech team mulls worst-case scenario after next big earthquake

October 11, 2008

CAJON PASS – A magnitude-7.8 quake rips out of the Coachella Valley, heads west along the San Andreas Fault, severs power lines, cuts a hole in the 15 Freeway and knocks out rail tracks – leaving Southern California isolated from the rest of the West Coast.

http://westcoast911.com/wp/2008/10/11/caltech-team-mulls-worst-case-scenario-after-next-big-earthquake/


Here’s another one - also look up liquefaction maps.

http://sciencedude.ocregister.com/2008/01/14/san-andreas-quake-could-shake-oc-for-60-seconds/2205/

Bottom line is it doesn’t have to be a 9.0


22 posted on 03/13/2011 3:36:04 PM PDT by WestCoastGal (SL I believe hes a remarkable race-car driver, I think some people in the world have forgotten that)
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To: americanophile

it could be worse...


23 posted on 03/13/2011 3:38:45 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: americanophile
I'm sorry, but doesn't the "Ring of Fire" run down the West Coast of the United States; which I believe includes CA. And wasn't this gigantor quake which just hit Japan a product of that same "Ring of Fire"? Wouldn't that mean that CA is vulnerable to that same size quake? Just asking.
24 posted on 03/13/2011 3:41:39 PM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: americanophile

Right.


25 posted on 03/13/2011 3:45:18 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: bigbob
Yeh...this posted above:

California on edge after Earthquake activity in the Gulf of California The Weather Space ^ | March 12, 2011 | Jim Duran Posted on March 13, 2011 3:13:15 PM PDT by americanophile

Earthquakes are striking the middle of the Gulf of California, giving U.S. West Coast residents the question ... when?

TheWeatherSpace.com has received many reports and concerns about an Earthquake striking California because of what is happening down in the Gulf of Cailfornia. Six quakes, including a 5.3-magnitude moderate quake have struck the area today. The lingering concern of viewers is the wonder if California is next due to the fact Japan start this same way.

"While I cannot speak for USGS or any type of geology official, California needs to have their earthquake preparations in order, including kits", said TWS Meteorologist Kevin Martin. "Weather and Problem Solving is my field, however if you live in California you must always be prepared no matter what. Now is a good time to do so. Quakes down there have a tendency to cause stress on California fault-zones so I wouldn't be surprised if we get one. Usually the main quake happens where the foreshocks are so it would have to be the Gulf of California as well".

Other concerns is the Japan area. Viewers are pouring in wondering if the aftershocks are foreshocks to an even larger one. Was the current mainshock the larger one?

The USGS says that the mainshock would be the largest one. It is anyone's guess if a larger one is on the horizon. Talks of super moon on the 19th has the Internet a buzz right now.

Martin lastly states that a 4.4-magnitude quake hit several hours before the 5.3-magnitude quake farther north, this one 170 miles southwest of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. What interests him is quakes seem to go along the plate boundary and California sits north of the mainshock pattern.

map here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/22.32.-115.-105.php

26 posted on 03/13/2011 3:47:24 PM PDT by spokeshave (WTF....the only thing 0bambi's investments will get us is a bullet train to bankruptcy.)
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To: LibertarianLiz

Yes, but it’s a different kind of fault zone - strike-slip, which means it’s a transform plate boundary, where the plates grind past each other, not a a convergent plate boundary, where they smash into one another. Those seems to produce the most devastating earthquakes. The real story is up in the Puget Sound area where a very small plate is subducting under the North American one...it’s only a matter of time before they get one like Japan.


27 posted on 03/13/2011 3:50:29 PM PDT by americanophile ("this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives"-Ataturk)
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To: WestCoastGal

Bad enough, right.


28 posted on 03/13/2011 3:52:53 PM PDT by americanophile ("this absurd theology of an immoral Bedouin, is a rotting corpse which poisons our lives"-Ataturk)
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To: SumProVita

I have a map that’s suppose to show all earthquakes - and your area only shows two...


29 posted on 03/13/2011 3:52:53 PM PDT by GOPJ (http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php - It's only uncivil when someone on the right does it.- Laz)
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To: SumProVita

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/rencentequs/


30 posted on 03/13/2011 3:54:17 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: americanophile

I live in the Seattle area and am aware that we are past due for the “big one”. Washington’s coast is also a prime target for tsunami.


31 posted on 03/13/2011 3:56:41 PM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: Carley

Yes. A swarm in the same spot.

A week ago there was a swarm in one spot 250 miles off the Oregon coast. I was thinking that meant something. Then Japan got hit.


32 posted on 03/13/2011 3:59:18 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Cold Heart

Says...File not found.


33 posted on 03/13/2011 4:00:50 PM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: LibertarianLiz
Wouldn't that mean that CA is vulnerable to that same size quake? Just asking

Conventional scientific theory has the San Andreas fault generating a maximum of 8.0. There are scientists that think it can create larger ones.

The Cascadia Subduction zone fault off the coast of Oregon and Washington is capable of generating an earthquake and tsunami as large as the one in Japan according to scientists

34 posted on 03/13/2011 4:01:04 PM PDT by EVO X
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To: GOPJ

My list is here:

http://folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/Quakes/quakes0.html


35 posted on 03/13/2011 4:02:01 PM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: SumProVita

OK. Try a search for “Latest Earthquakes in the USA”
That should bring you some choices.


36 posted on 03/13/2011 4:05:20 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: SumProVita

Better yet, try HTML://www.earthquake.usgs.gov


37 posted on 03/13/2011 4:09:16 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: americanophile

Me: “Mister Scientist, I have one question!”

MS: “Go ahead”

Me: “Where is the next big quake going to occur in California?”

MS: “I don’t know for sure”

Me: “Then how can you say that nothing bigger than 8.0 will ever occur in California?”

MS: Blank stare...


38 posted on 03/13/2011 4:13:54 PM PDT by hattend (Obama got his 3am call about Egypt. The call went right to the answering machine.- Sarah Palin)
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To: americanophile

$200 billion, eh? That’s Zero’s monthly deficit for February.


39 posted on 03/13/2011 4:18:00 PM PDT by beethovenfan (If Islam is the solution, the "problem" must be freedom.)
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To: Cold Heart

Thanks...

;-)


40 posted on 03/13/2011 4:19:07 PM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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