Southern California's recent 7.1 earthquake
Last week, on Thursday, a 6.4 earthquake shook the desert area not too far (202 km) from Los Angeles. Less than 2 days later, a 7.1 earthquake struck the same area...and rattled nerves in the LA area. This is just a small reminder that the faults are active, and the big ones are coming. Not just to California, but to other areas as well. A big factor that helped trigger this recent tremor was the heavy snow pack and subsequent melting of that snow. Imagine the weight of all the snow, across the mountain ranges, adding to the forces already pushing on the faults. As that weight is released, it affects the faults, and may trigger a greater release of pressure. This may not be the end of tremors for the California faults for this year as the snowpack continues to melt. I'm not convinced the Big Ones will strike this year along the San Andreas (LA area) or Hayward (San Francisco area) faults, but the shifting weight and fault pressure releases on other faults will likely inc...