NASA aircraft seen ‘scanning San Andreas Fault’ sparks fears ‘Big One’ quake is imminent

bigworldtale.com ^ | 07/29/2019

[Fungi]

Is a sombrero acceptable? It is Californication.

[Scrambler Bob]

Any idea if NASA does any LIDAR imaging?
= = =

Beaming that LIDAR down onto that fault will trigger it, for sure!

[Seaplaner]

We had the Landers earthquake in 1992 and it was a 7.4 in intensity. I don’t get how that wasn’t “ the big one”. >< I think they have determined that the “Big One” will be at least 9.0. I’m probably way off.

The San Andreas' "big one" will be nothing like the Cascadia Subduction Zone's big one.

The San Andreas fault zone is two plates moving sideways relative to each other. It locks up, then releases.

The Cascadia zone is one plate diving (subducting) beneath another. This zone (which stretches from northern Cali to northern Wash) can unzip the length of two states, releasing energy that is, IIRC, an order of magnitude above the San Andreas.

[Scrambler Bob]

I think they have determined that the “Big One” will be at least 9.0. I’m probably way off.
= = =

I’ve been around, and I KNOW the big one is 11.0.

[gundog]

To say nothing of the gravitic forces exerted by the airplane itself. They’re really playing with fire.

[Seaplaner]

Actually, I believe that two orders of magnitude is 32x32 times worse (1,000)

[montag813]

[coloradan]

The reason the Landers quake wasn’t “the big one” is because it wasn’t directly underneath Los Angeles. I understand there is a fault (1) that runs directly under metro LA, (2) which is capable of storing the energy of a magnitude 8 quake, (3) which hasn’t slipped in a long time, and is overdue to do so. The Landers quake was a substantial energy release, but, not under LA and, more importantly, not in a way that released the energy stored underneath LA. The Northridge quake was much closer to the metro area than Landers was, but was a small earthquake relative to the amount of energy that is believed to still be underneath LA. If and when there’s a high-7s or low-8s quake smack within the LA area, major destruction and mass casualties are very likely to occur. *That* will be “the big one”.

(It’s not much consolation, but I have read that the LA area does not store enough energy for a magnitude 9 quake there ... but the Cascadia fault in the ocean beyond Washington State and Oregon does - and when that happens, there is going to be a 2004 Sumatra-scale, or a 2010 Japan-scale tsunami in the coastal regions of those states.

[Boomer]

Well duh! They’ve already had two big ones in Cali recently with lots of smaller after shocks and tremors. Of course they would be looking to see if other plates are shifting in any way they can.

[logi_cal869]

Not possible in a slip fault.

[broken_clock]

I hear ya and understand the theory of little quakes diminishing the pressure build up of the fault lines.

All we can do is prep for it and cross our fingers :)

[gundog]

In the original Richter Scale? I think that was developed for the Cali/Nevada area and doesn’t necessarily translate to other areas. 2 orders of magnitude, or 3 greater than a 7,4 is “we are so screwed.”

[Cobra64]

It is the Hayward Fault that is the more immediate concern.

[Safrguns]

Anytime I want to see what’s coming soon on earthquakes, I just tune to this guy’s channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/dutchsinse

Highly recommended if you havn’t heard of this guy.

He has a pretty interesting method which has proven pretty accurate on forecasting events.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Just a few miles from our house is the Los Trancos Open Space Preserve where the SAF runs. There's a fence indicating the degree of slip from the 1906 temblor:

[gundog]

They can also signal trouble brewing. The San Andreas fault is a very different animal than the Cascadia Subduction zone area that I live on. Crossing your fingers is as good a plan as any. If we get hit with the big one. I anticipate widespread fires, no water, no electricity and no roads.

[laplata]

Wow. Thanks.

[pfflier]

News conspiracy site allnewspipeline.com questioned whether NASA and the US government “know something that we don’t know”.

That is an incredible statement on it's face value. NASA and the Government are full of very smart people. Of course, collectively they know lots more than the average guy on the street will ever know or can even comprehend.

They are even capable of getting smarter by overflying the site of a recent powerful earthquake and collecting measurement data. I actually hope they learn how to predict quakes from what they learn.

[laplata]

I really was way off.

[Drago]

If it was the NASA DC-8, then it was an air quality/air pollution study called “FIREX-AQ”. Not earthquake fault related.

https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/aircraft_status

and “FIREX-AQ”:

https://espo.nasa.gov/firex-aq/content/FIREX-AQ