Why Some Segments of Faults Are Oddly Calm Between Quakes (2 of 4) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Why Some Segments of Faults Are Oddly Calm Between Quakes (2 of 4)

Caption

(Top) Historical and prehistorical large earthquakes and (bottom) microseismicity that occur between 1981 and 2011 on the San Andreas Fault and the San Jacinto Fault in Southern California. Active microseismicity is observed at great depths on the Parkfield and San Bernardino segments on the San Andreas Fault and most parts on the San Jacinto Fault. Cholame, Carrizo, Mojave, and Coachella segments have been seismically quiescent for decades. The 1857 and ~1690 events probably penetrated below the seismogenic zone, and similar behavior can occur in future events. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the June 10, 2016, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by J. Jiang at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and colleagues was titled, "Deeper penetration of large earthquakes on seismically quiescent faults."

Credit

Junle Jiang

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