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SCIENCEThursday 9 March 2017

Study: California fault could cause magnitude-7.4 quake

SAN DIEGO (AP) — An from previous and new

earthquake fault running seismic surveys that in-

from San Diego Bay to Los cluded sonar studies of the

Angeles is capable of pro- offshore fault. Researchers

ducing a magnitude-7.4 looked at four segments of

earthquake that could af- the fault that were offset

fect some of the region’s — known as stepovers —

most densely populated and found the disconnec-

areas, according to a tions weren’t wide enough

study released Tuesday. to prevent the entire off-

The study looked at the shore section of the fault

Newport-Inglewood and from rupturing.

Rose Canyon systems — Researchers also looked

previously thought to be at the onshore segment

separate — and conclud- of the fault and conclud-

ed they actually form a ed that there have been

continuous fault that runs three to five ruptures in the

underwater from San Di- past 11,000 years along

ego Bay to Seal Beach in the northern section and

Orange County and on one quake about 400

land through the Los An- years ago at the southern

geles basin. end.

The fault poses a signifi- Researchers at the Ne-

cant hazard to coastal vada Seismological Labo-

Southern California and Ti- ratory assisted with the

juana, Mexico, according study, which was funded

to the study. In this Jan. 17, 1994, file photo, the covered body of Los Angeles Police Officer Clarence Wayne by Southern California Edi-
It could produce up to Dean, 46, lies near his motorcycle which plunged off the State Highway 14 overpass that col- son. It was accepted for
a magnitude-7.3 quake lapsed onto Interstate 5, after a magnitude-6.7 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles. publication in the Ameri-
if the offshore segments can Geophysical Union’s
Associated Press

rupture and a magni- of Oceanography at the major impact on the re- killed 115 people. Journal of Geophysical

tude-7.4 quake if the on- University of California San gion, according to Valerie The study looked at data Research.q

shore segment also rup- Diego. Sahakian, the study’s lead

tures, according to the Even a moderate quake author.“This system is most-

study by Scripps Institution on the fault could have a ly offshore but never more

than four miles from the

CALL FOR OUR LIVE GIRLS SHOW San Diego, Orange Coun-
ty, and Los Angeles Coun-

ty coast,” Sahakian was

quoted as saying in a press

release from the American

Geophysical Union.

The fault’s most recent

major rupture occurred

in 1933 in Long Beach

and produced a magni-

tude-6.4 earthquake that