California Could Be Ripe For A Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake

A study released this week by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, has indicated that an earthquake fault running from California’s San Diego Bay to Los Angeles, is capable of producing a huge 7.4 earthquake and it could affect the region’s most densely populated areas.

According to the study, the Newport-Inglewood and Rose Canyon systems form a continuous fault that runs underwater from San Diego Bay to Seal Beach in Orange County and on land through the Los Angeles basin.

The study, which was funded by Southern California Edison, says the fault could be a significant hazard to Tijuana Mexico as well as Southern California.

If the offshore segments rupture, it could produce up to a magnitude-7.3 quake. If the onshore segment ruptures, it could produce a magnitude-7.4 quake.

The study’s lead author, Valerie Sahakian has said that even a moderate quake on the fault could majorly impact the region.

In a press release from the American Geophysical Union, Sahakian stated, “This system is mostly offshore but never more than four miles from the San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles County coast.”

The last time a rupture occured on the fault was back in 1993 in Long Beach. A 6.4 earthquake on the fault killed 115 people.

Researchers at the Nevada Seismological Laboratory assisted with the study that looked at data from previous and new seismic surveys that included sonar studies of the offshore fault. They also looked at the onshore segment of the fault and concluded that there have been three to five ruptures in the past 11,000 years along the northern section and one quake about 400 years ago at the southern end.