California’s recent earthquake adds stress to already-stressed fault zone
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028206
New Scientist : The magnitude 6.0 earthquake that shook Northern California on 24 August injured more than 200 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. It may have also added stress to the nearby Hayward fault, which is almost 120 km long and parallels the San Andreas fault. The last major earthquake on the Hayward fault occurred 146 years ago, in 1868; in fact, the last five major events there were all about 140 years apart. “The fault is thought to be one that has a pretty high probability of rupturing in the next 30 years,” says Thomas Parsons of the US Geological Survey. If so, the effects could be devastating because of the large urban areas, such as San Francisco and Berkeley, located there.
