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 United States, killing an estimated 3,000 people, while destroying over 80 percent of the Bay Area city.
Of course, we’re far better prepared now than we were over 100 years ago, in large part thanks to sophisticated seismic building codes and regulations designed to protect human life. But that doesn’t mean a particularly powerful earthquake wouldn’t be devastating.
And the time is ripe. According to a new paper, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, accumulative stresses in the Earth’s crust in California are higher today than at any point over the last 1,000 years, raising concerns over the potential for a massive rupture in the Los Angeles region.
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https://futurism.com/science-energy/california-primed-earthquake-geological-research