[commish]

This is the third set of Brawley swarms in the last 12 years. Each one adds more pressure to the southern San Andreas which is already almost 150 years past due for a 7+.

The big fear is that once the SA does let go it won't be a localized quake, but instead will 'unzip' all the way from the Salton Sea to Monterey.

[butlerweave]

Wind Turbines will drop like Dominoes

[Publius]

There are two bends that caused the original subduction zone to rise from the sea some five million years ago and become the slip-strike fault that it is today. It's the two bends at Landers and Fort Tejon that prevent the kind of unzipping that you fear.

There would have to be three separate zips for a complete unzipping: Salton to Landers, Landers to Fort Tejon, and Fort Tejon to Monterey. A big enough quake could unzip Salton to Landers, but it could take years, decades or even centuries for the next unzipping to Fort Tejon to take place.

[Robert A Cook PE]

There were several earthquake swarms further north in the Owens Valley a few years ago. (Late 1999 I believe.)

But where several fault zones cross each other, a swarm of small quakes could relieve pressure on all of them, or increase it against the final line that has not moved.

[CyberAnt]

I’m in San Diego .. and the fault nearest me is more than 100 miles away .. and we’ve already had a 7.1 just a few years ago.

Since I’ve already ridden out a 7.1, with no structural damage, I’m not that concerned.