California Primed for Apocalyptic Earthquake, Geological Research Finds

California Primed for Apocalyptic Earthquake, Geological Research Finds

No Fault of Our Own Southern California is home to two major fault lines, the San Andreas and San Jacinto, where large tectonic plates grind past each other, occasionally triggering violent earthquakes. While smaller quakes are not uncommon in the region, powerful ones can prove devastating. For instance, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which occurred along the San Andreas fault, became the deadliest incident of its kind in the history of the…

Earthquake model reveals: Stress in California at record level

An international research team led by a researcher at the University of Bern has modeled 1,000 years of earthquake history along the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults in Southern California. The result: stresses in the crust are higher today than at any time in the last millennium – and a critical fault junction near Los Angeles could decide how big the next major earthquake will be.