This morning at 8:33am PST, a mild magnitude 3.4 earthquake struck off of the coast, near Manhattan Beach. It was felt as intensity III near the epicenter and was felt as intensity II in most of the LA Basin. It had a depth of 5 miles, and no damage was reported.
If you felt the earthquake, report the shaking strength at your location at: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci15190937#dyfi_form
With all the small earthquakes in the area, should we not expect a large earthquake in the near future or have greater expectations of "the big one"? I always hear about relieving pressure with small quakes and that no quakes should lead to a larger quake. However, it seems like large quakes are followed by large after shocks and more activity rather than less. What does the data show?
ReplyDeleteTN
Well, there is a very high chance, 59% that a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake will strike along the Southern San Andreas Fault south of the San Gabriel Mountains. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. There are many faults that run through Califronia and the rest of the Western US,which have a potential of creating a large earthquake. The good thing is that in Southern California, there is no Subduction Zone under the ocean, so there is little threat of a tsunami or an earthquake larger than 8.0.
DeleteGoing back to the relieving pressure thing... Reliveing pressure in one place with one earthquake, causes more stress in another place, and so on. So that is why there is an aftershock sequence after a major earthquake. This is often like a chain reaction. But, we do have periods of time in which there is little earthquake activity, and we have periods of time with more earthquake activity.
-Gregory
Also, unlike the Southern San Andreas Fault, many of the other faults, run right through LA and Riverside, as well as the other populated areas, and are not as well known.
DeleteSorry about the many spelling errors in the previous comment.