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 ...
Downloaded EQuake3D and the Texas 3.8 is there, but for some reason this program isn’t showing anything in Europe. What do I need ?
USGS doesn’t show Europe. Try here: http://www.emsc-csem.org/#2
Yeah...lots of little quakes in the Greenbrier, AL area since the 8th. Ummmmmmm. I live in SoCal and I lived through the landers/big bear quake and northridge.
Yeah...lots of little quakes in the Greenbrier, AL area since the 8th. Ummmmmmm. I live in SoCal and I lived through the landers/big bear quake and northridge.
......If Japan wasn't a wake-up call, I don't know what is.
Get your hearts ready with God, folks!
....destruction only takes a few minutes...then it's over....and too late!
I even heard Frank Luntz on Cavuto last night say....'but by the Grace of God there go I'--(or our nation)....in referring to the tragedy of the Japan quake.
Cavuto said....'those are profound words'.....
I grew up hearing & understanding those words......and believe them even more fully now.
I was 8 miles from the Landers, but it was ONLY a 7.4!
So called experts than say a earthquake like Japan cannot happen in California should be told to shut their mouths. No one can predict the size or place of such events, they just think they can...The earth doesn't read the papers..
You lived through some bad ones... Florida with our hurricanes is starting to look good - well, until the season starts again... Glad you’re still with us, Conservative3Ever.
This is awesome! Thank you so much...
I thought you’d like it.
I used to think of "the big one" in California as a disaster beyond imagining in all respects. Thanks to Obama/Pelosi/Reid, I now see the dollar cost as a small fraction of Stimulus, TARP, ObamaCare, or any of a number of other man induced disasters, if the $200B number is anywhere near the real cost of the big one. The loss of life could be horrendous, but the financial impact would be minor compared with a true American catastrophe:
For sure about Yellowstone.
...oh, haha. Ya, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
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