The Bulletin of Seismological Society of America's February issue backed up the long standing idea that southern California is extremely overdue for a major earthquake. The earthquake, expected to shake in at a 7.0 - 8.0 on the Richter scale, comes as no surprise for most seismologists. However, the article that this article is discussing points out and becomes the first published documentation that predicts the earthquake could possibly strike just north of the Salton Sea. This area is quickly becoming a popular area, and is rapidly growing in population; which means the projected earthquake could cause substantial life threatening damage.
The area has undergone a very long time period without having an earthquake. In fact, the last known earthquake occurred in 1690! The article points out that the odds of making it from 1690 to 2010 without a quake has odds of less than 20%. Several prehistoric events were researched and help form a time line of events in the area, and thus lead to point of saying the location is over due.The article goes on to explain how the “sea” (actually it just a really really big lake) was formed, and that practically any form of man-made architecture or redesign of the geographical region could easily send the area into an earthquake. The U.S. Geographical Survey supported the research conducted.
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| The seven earthquake events, including the two possible temblors, were placed between 905-961 AD, 959-1015 (possible), 1090-1152, 1275-1347, 1320-1489 (possible), 1588-1662 and 1657-1713, based on analyses of seismic structures preserved in the sediment in the three trenches and 82 radiocarbon dates drawn from 61 samples of organic material. |
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110210122941.htm
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