Quake activity along the San Andreas fault is picking up

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Earthquake activity has really been picking up since the big earthquake off the coast of Russia about 10 days ago. I've got a feeling that the San Andreas is going to have a major slip very soon. Might also be some major activity in Alaska too.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/index.gif

Watch the USGS animation from the last 10 days to see what's going on.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsanim/us.php

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a10l5R33hwvs&refer=us

Quote:

Earthquake of Magnitude 6.2 Strikes Off Northern California

By Heather Langan

Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck off California’s northern coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said in an e-mailed alert.

The temblor struck at 5:43 a.m. local time today, at a depth of 62 miles (100 kilometers), the USGS said. The quake took place 133 miles west of Eureka, California, the monitoring agency said.

http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=51244&catid=2

Quote:

Earthquake Series Continue Across California
Written for the web byPosted By: Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer

Created: 11/29/2008 2:49:41 PM Updated: 11/29/2008 2:53:15 PM

AROMAS, Calif. (AP) -- Four small earthquakes struck Central and Southern California early Saturday, but there are no reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey said a magnitude-4.1 quake hit the Ridgecrest area of Kern County shortly before 1:15 p.m. The same area had a 3.2-magnitude quake at 3 this morning.

Two earthquakes also struck the Salinas Valley along the Central Coast.

A magnitude-3.2 quake hit just before 5 Saturday morning and a second quake of the same magnitude followed two minutes later.

The quakes were centered near the town of Aromas and about 35 miles from San Jose.

A 3.0-magnitude quake struck the same area at about 10:30 Friday night.

The latest tumblor came after an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck off California's northern coast about 133 miles west of Eureka Thursday.

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don't the pro's say that a lot of smallish slips relieves pressure and thus makes a major slip less likely?

Having lived in California for a number of years i did notice that we are increasingly due for a major quake, based upon historical data.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

We've been having a lot of minor ones, under 2.0. The intensity and frequency has picked up in the last 10 days, almost doubled.

1 Reply

@Butrflynet,

I guess that's a "Bugger"?

Or is it possible the shift will expend itself with lots of little tremors, rather than one big one?

Or, is this usually a sign of an impending big one?

****!!! Looks like Craven needs to be holding onto something in Puerto Rico, too!

Or is that normal there?

1 Reply

@dlowan,

He's in Costa Rica isn't he?

Impending big one? Difficult to say. We're way overdue. This increase in activity and intensity is similar to what I remember before the Loma Prieta quake. It is unusual to see so much activity in the states further east in the Yellowstone area too.

It could also be that spot in Southern California near LA where there is very little movement surrounded by long ribbons of quake movement. The plate seems to be hung up on a snag there.

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Eureka.... ahhhh.

We were seemingly always having quakes at sea, but I didn't follow the tracks as closely as you have with the whole San Andreas picture, Butrflynet.

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When it comes, it comes. Can't do much about quakes when we live near the San Andreas Fault. Our house has been standing for 50-years, and we can only hope it'll last another 50.

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By major I was speaking of on the order of 1906, one of the reasons SF has been spending so heavy on retrofits these last 30 years is that the scientists say that another huge one is very likely,.....I think they were saying something like 75% in the next 50 years, but don't remember exactly.

I've lived 6 years in Monterey, where people pay attention to that kind of talk, but have not been back recently.

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@cicerone imposter,

My houses were standing a hundred years, in LA and Eureka. Wood flexed back then.

Still, earthquakes are discombobulating.

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When it happens, I hope I am not still living here. Being up close and personal with the Loma Prieta quake was more than enough for me. It really is not something I look forward to experiencing again.

1 Reply

@Butrflynet,

Aren't you a bit distanced from the faults?

1 Reply

@cicerone imposter,

Not far enough. I still feel quite a few of the ones that are more than 3.5 or so, especially the ones near Tahoe and Santa Rosa. I'm right in the middle of the two.

I was at ground zero in Oakland for the Cypress Freeway collapse.

1 Reply

@Butrflynet,

Ground zero? I'd be nervous too!

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Quote:

5.1 quake strikes in desert east of L.A.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

A moderate, 5.1 earthquake struck the Mojave Desert on Friday night along the Lavic Lake Fault, about 120 miles east of Los Angeles.

More than 4,000 people from San Diego to Las Vegas reported feeling the temblor, said Richard Buckmaster, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, which collects earthquake reports on its Web site.

The quake struck a sparsely populated area within San Bernardino County, about 16 miles from Ludlow, the nearest town.

"We've not received any reports of damage or injury, and we don't expect any," Buckmaster said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/06/BA5L14J9B9.DTL

Quote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-quake6-2008dec06,0,6283591.story

From the Los Angeles Times
Magnitude 5.1 earthquake hits near Ludlow, in San Bernardino County
The moderate quake is felt from Los Angeles to San Diego. No damage is reported.
By Jessica Garrison

December 6, 2008

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake rumbled across Southern California on Friday night.

The moderate quake occurred at 8:18 p.m. near Ludlow, in San Bernardino County, just east of Barstow, and could be felt from Los Angeles to San Diego.

No damage was reported.

"It was just a quick little rolling earthquake, really light," said Jeremy Chestnut, 20, who works at the 76 Gas Station/Dairy Queen on Interstate 40 in the town of Ludlow.

"I was standing in front of an ice cream machine and it makes the ground shake too."

"Everyone here is OK," Chestnut added, saying nothing was broken as far as he could tell.

Barstow police officials said they had not heard any reports of injuries or property damage.

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Oh great. We're planning to spend Christmas with our daughter (Santa Cruz area) and it would just be our luck for the 'big one' to hit then. Well, an earthquake is something I have not really experienced yet so I guess that's something to look forward to? (Provided it isn't a really bad one of course. I'm not hoping for anybody to be harmed.)

Are the earthquakes still swarming in the Reno area? A few months ago they thought something major was imminent there too, but apparently not.

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@Foxfyre,

The map I posted updates constantly so it shows the most current avtivity.

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Two more this morning...

Dec 9, 2008 10:19 am US/Pacific
Small Earthquakes Shake Milpitas Area
CBS 5 Earthquake Section
MILPITAS (CBS 5) ― Two earthquakes measuring 3.4 and 3.0 rattled both the South Bay and East Bay Tuesday morning.

The 3.4 quake hit at 8:25 a.m. about six miles northeast of Milpitas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The second quake struck at 8:38 a.m. in the same area. Both quakes were felt as far south as San Jose and as far north as Pleasanton.

A third, smaller quake measuring 1.4 shook in the same spot at 8:51 a.m.

No damage or injuries were reported in any of the earthquakes.

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@Butrflynet,

Yeah I keep a link that the USGS site in with all the weather locations I check daily. You really can feel a 3.0 earthquake?

1 Reply

@Foxfyre,

Depends on the location. Sometimes I don't feel anything but hear the windows rattle slightly. Other times I don't feel or hear anything but realize I have a feeling of motion sickness and will check the USGS website to find we had a minor tremor. Most of the time it is indistinguishable between a quake and a heavy bus or truck going by on a nearby street and I make note of the time to see if any nearby quakes occurred at that time.

1 Reply

Its convenient tha Brother Branham would pick a seismically active area to predict that massive earthquakes would befall it. How convenient for his ministry. BTW, When does the "slide" occur?

We are going through a series of major global seismic shifts these last 20 years or so as plate energy is being resolved worldwide. The fact that continental plates move at 2 to 6 cm/yr does not imply a constant slow movement. Most of the time this movememnt occurs in jerks and large displacements (like te Loma Priata was anywhere from 5 to 27 feet) Rock has a habit of snagging on each side of the fault zone and energy builds up. As the stresses get resolved, its better to have lots of little "microsiesmic movement" than a big temblor.

It appears that earthquake prediction is subject to local calculation. Not every model "fits all", since there are man y different kinds of quake mechanisms (tension, compression,translational etc) each has its own predictive clues and were only beginning to be able to sort it out.USGS believes that it can gove fairly accurate predictions of volcanic seismic activity within 96 hours and comp[ressional and shear seismic activity within 4 hours. Thats much better than we had in the recent past.

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Quake activity along the San Andreas fault is picking up

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