Earthquakes along California coast could be more catastrophic than expected, study shows
A fault system spanning nearly 70 miles of the Los Angeles coast may pose a more menacing threat than previously thought, a new study shows.
That’s because the Palos Verdes fault zone may not be as small and scattered as researchers previously thought.
Instead, scientists at Harvard University suggest it’s a system of interconnected, close-together fractures creeping beneath neighborhoods and the ports of Long Beach and L.A. all the way from the Santa Monica Bay to Dana Point, ABC7 News reported.
Those faults could rupture all at once, which could trigger a much more catastrophic quake than previously expected, the Los Angeles Times reported. It could look like a 7.1- to 7.4-magnitude quake for “single-segment ruptures” and a 7.4- to 7.8-magnitude quake for “multisegment ruptures,” the study in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America says..
That’s comparable to a destructive quake from the San Andreas fault, ABC7 reported.
It may seem like only a few decimal points, but because “an earthquake’s energy is measured exponentially,” those decimal points pack a tremendous punch, according to the LA Times.
The U.S. Geological Survey says that while a 7.8-magnitude quake is only about 2.5 times bigger than a 7.4- magnitude quake, it releases quadruple the amount of power and energy.
“In a worst-case scenario, the Palos Verdes fault system could unleash a quake that combines the most destructive qualities of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 temblor, and the 7.1 Ridgecrest quake that struck in 2019,” Harvard University professor John H. Shaw told the LA Times.
Shaw is a professor of structural and economic geology at the university and helped write the study along with two others.
“Aftershocks would be like falling dominoes,” he told the outlet.
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