Posted on 05/31/2019 1:59:59 AM PDT by LibWhacker
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A recent burst of seismic activity along the West Coast has scientists taking notice. They believe these small tremors could potentially be a precursor to something larger.
Over the last few weeks, these small tremors have been reported along the coast of northern California, up to Washington. Scientists said it’s due to the phenomenon called “slow-slip,” and it’s happening north of us out in the Pacific.
“The Juan de Fuca plate, is what it’s called, is sliding under North America, and sometimes it’s locked, and sometimes it slips. But when it slips, it’s building up stress elsewhere on the fault,” said UC Davis Professor Jim McClain, who teaches Geophysics.
When that kind of stress builds up and is released, it can lead to so-called megaquakes, like the one that rocked Japan and caused a massive tsunami in 2011. McClain, says slow-slip is somewhat new and not completely understood, but could be a precursor to larger seismic activity.
“These things occur where you have a locked plate at relatively shallow depths, where one plate is sliding under another and then you get a release and it’s shallow enough that it will actually shift the sea floor,” said McClain.
Megaquakes of magnitude nine or more are rare. It’s the smaller ones on land that tend to concern most people. Professor McClain says at some point, it’s likely there will be significant seismic activity along the Bay Area’s Hayward fault.
“That has the potential of shaking us pretty well here in the central valley, much more than the Loma Prieta earthquake,” said McClain.
A building on the UC Davis campus is currently being upgraded to better withstand the next big quake that affects the central valley. Even though earthquakes are a fact of life in California, some say they are ill-prepared for the next big one.
“I know that there’s always the potential of there being an earthquake, but we just haven’t thought much about it,” said Chuck Mohr.
Experts say the best way to be prepared is to have an emergency plan, and kit, which includes lots of water and non-perishable food.
Instead of this catastrophist scenario, we should take advantage of plate slips under other plates to store nuclear waste and trash underground in those plates dropping down.
It’s caused by too many Hispanics in one place.
WhatEVER will the Dums do when they wake up some morning to find their 75 West Coast Electoral College votes 50 miles out and 5000 feet down in The Pacific Ocean??
If there ever was a good time for the boss to move to Texas, this might be it
75 should have been 73 ... for now
Or not. Tectonic environments are very different from region to region. This is "best guess" stuff.
Including our own Jim Rob and the FreeRepublic servers.
...and stop pissing off God. That’s when the “Big One” is coming.
Let me say in advance of San Francisco falling into the Pacific: That’s a shame.
As a UCD graduate, I am overjoyed to hear they are beefing up even one building. When I was there (1964-8) they finished a building that would house the microbe collection—you know—all those fevers, anthrax, don’t think they had smallpox, but huge cabinets of tiny glass vials. Our bacteriology class got a tour. I asked if the cabinets were bolted to the wall or the floor.
Answer was no.
I reminded them of the earthquake possibility and that since these cabinets were on the second floor, the swaying would cause them to slide at least to the other side of the room. The windows in that very room were floor to ceiling glass. I went over to the nearest window and observed several students walking on the sidewalk below. One good jolt and that cabinet would slam against the window frame and unload the drawer’s contents onto the students.
Needless to say my alarm fell on deaf ears.
If the Big One hits soon, CA oughta pray that it hits while Trump is prez.
I can’t think of a better POTUS to ramrod the response to natural disaster of that magnitude.
So much for the pooper scoopers!
That would be a major pollution event, though San Francisco could use a good flushing..
Global Tectonic Change is real and caused by people having too much freedom
If you ever want to annoy someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.
Waiting for that ocean front property in Arizona.
i would hope we have backup in more than one location??
Dateline 2034 - President Ocasio-Cortez has appointed former Representative Hank Johnson to spearhead the population relocation effort in order to redistribute the weight of excess personnel along the California coast to prevent it from flipping into the sea. Johnson will head the newly created office of the Command and Managed Population Decisions Administration for Complete Human Authority, better known by it’s acronym, CAMP DACHAU.
I hear megaquakes cause sharknados
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