ABC 7: Stress along the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults in Southern California has reached the highest levels in 1,000 years, according to new research from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The study outlines implications for seismic hazard assessments in one of the nation’s most populated and infrastructure-critical regions.
Scientist Liliane Burkhard said that “the region may be capable of a large through-going rupture involving both fault systems,” and that researchers “also found that Cajon Pass may act as an ‘earthquake gate,’ sometimes blocking large ruptures from crossing between the faults, and sometimes allowing them to pass through and involve both systems in a single event.”
Looking back at 1,000 years of Earthquake History
Researchers designed a physics-based model that simulates the stress build up on the two fault systems including at the Cajon Pass.
By feeding the simulation 1,000 years worth of earthquake history from the region, they estimated how much stress has built up. Burkhard said, “Right now, with stress at historically high levels across the region and more than 160 years elapsed since the last major rupture, the system is in a critically loaded state.”
The study found that stress normally released in large earthquakes has continued to grow up to unprecedented levels. It also found that the Cajon Pass could cause a joint rupture of both faults simultaneously. Densely populated areas including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and the Coachella Valley would be significantly affected.
The San Andreas Fault is the primary boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. It runs up the Peninsula and stretches about 650 miles, with other faults, including the Hayward Fault, branching off it.
Prophetic Link:
“There will soon be a sudden change in God’s dealings. The world in its perversity is being visited by casualties,—by floods, storms, fires, earthquakes, famines, wars, and bloodshed. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power; yet He will not at all acquit the wicked. “The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” O that men might understand the patience and longsuffering of God! He is putting under restraint His own attributes. His omnipotent power is under the control of Omnipotence. O that men would understand that God refuses to be wearied out with the world’s perversity, and still holds out the hope of forgiveness even to the most undeserving! But His forbearance will not always continue. Who is prepared for the sudden change that will take place in God’s dealing with sinful men? Who will be prepared to escape the punishment that will certainly fall upon transgressors?” Final Events, 356.2