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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 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-
Associated Press
if the offshore segments can Geophysical Union’s
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