“It's good to, because people forget about hazards. “Where the earthquakes are in California, that's a teaching moment,” Cato says. The county can use Jordan’s maps (along with maps from the state) to develop its official seismic safety maps and building plans.
He is also working to map that region with graduate student Frank Jordan, who works as a geologist for San Bernardino County and is studying local faults, mountain forming and seismically induced landslides. Keck Foundation grant, CSUSB’s geology department is acquiring more of this technology to continue mapping California’s seismic hazard zones, as well as give students an opportunity to practice digital mapping.įollowing the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes, Cato began taking students to the locations where the ground ruptured to map the area.
“When we see this from the sky, we send geologists to look at it and provide the ground truth.” “If it's a fault, we can tell which strands actually moved and ruptured the ground surface,” he says. When these areas are mapped at different points in time, he can then detect movement and changes in a landscape. Cato captures hundreds of images of an area that he then digitally stitches together into 3D models. Research from CSU geologists and seismologists provides the state with critical information to help protect citizens and ensure industries survive “The Big One.”įor earthquake researchers, the first step in seismic hazard analysis is often mapping a region’s geological features, like faults and debris flows following wildfires-a key focus for Kerry Cato, Ph.D., a licensed engineering geologist and Cal State San Bernardino geology professor.Įmploying drones and LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, which measures distances using a laser light, Dr.
#California earth quake lines how to#
Using that information empowers the state to predict which areas will experience the most damage during an earthquake and make decisions around where to construct commercial and residential buildings, which existing buildings need retrofitting, where to build infrastructure like roads and utility lines and how to ensure residents have access to services in the aftermath. We want people to understand where the faults are and the level of shaking that could be expected from these earthquakes.” “We know the San Andreas Fault is an active fault and it's going to continue to produce larger earthquakes that are going to impact large sections of Southern California and Central California. “The primary goal is for people to be prepared for earthquakes,” says Sally McGill, Ph.D., a geologist and associate dean ofĬalifornia State University, San Bernardino’s College of Natural Sciences. As the lower part of the plates move, the upper part of the plates bend across the fault until energy builds up enough that a plate springs free, sending out seismic waves.Ī major part of anticipating and preparing for tectonic earthquakes is understanding a region’s seismic hazard: the likelihood of earthquakes occurring in an area, their frequency and intensity in those areas and related effects like landslides and tsunamis. About 15 kilometers (nine miles) below the earth’s surface, these massive plates can slowly creep past each other, both horizontally and vertically but above that depth, they become stuck because of friction. While this energy can come from volcanic activity or manmade triggers like an explosion, most often they emanate from fault lines where two sections of landmass called tectonic plates meet. state with the most earthquakes and experiences the most earthquakes that cause damage in the country.Įarthquakes occur when energy in the form of seismic waves ripple the earth, causing the ground to shake. Just consider that California is second only to Alaska for the But as any California resident knows, the state will continue to experience any number of earthquakes before “The Big One” strikes. The consensus: 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries, $213 billion in losses, severed sewage and electricity lines that would take months to repair, disconnected and contaminated water sources, collapsed and unstable buildings, fires, landslides and damaged roads and transportation systems preventing aid and emergency services from reaching the area.Ģ019 earthquakes in Ridgecrest-a magnitude 6.4 followed by a magnitude 7.1-the likelihood of such an earthquake taking place increased. The ShakeOut Scenario to describe what could happen after “The Big One” and its aftershocks hit Southern California. Hypothetical California earthquake-defined as a 7.8 or higher magnitude event along the southern section of the San Andreas Fault-could be 44 times stronger than the We call it “The Big One.” No one knows exactly when and where it will hit.
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