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LOS ANGELES (AFP) – An increase in tremors deep under California's San Andreas fault may be the harbinger of a major earthquake, according to a study out Friday in the journal Science.

Seismologist Robert Nadeau of the University of California at Berkeley reached this conclusion after analyzing tremors along a segment of the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, California.

Nadeau found that after the 2003 6.5-magnitude San Simeon quake and the 2004 6.0-magnitude Parkfield quake -- both located mid-way between San Francisco and Los Angeles -- tremors became more frequent and underground stress increased at the end of a "locked segment" of the San Andreas fault.

A "locked segment" is as a portion of a fault that has not moved in years and is at high risk of a major earthquake.

The researchers believe that the increase in tremors could mean that stress is accumulating faster than in the past along that segment of the fault, "which ruptured in the moment magnitude 7.8 Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857," read the article in Science.

"We've shown that earthquakes can stimulate tremors next to a locked zone, but we don't yet have evidence that this tells us anything about future quakes," Nadeau said.

"But if earthquakes trigger tremors, the pressure that stimulates tremors may also stimulate earthquakes."

Seismologists believe there is a 70 percent probability that a devastating earthquake will strike California in the next 30 years.

The San Andreas fault runs through much of the western state of California, the most populous in the United States.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090710...20090710175427

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sandooch

Thanks mini. Like I don't have enough things to worry about.

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gmyers

I'd be scared to live where they have earthquakes. But I guess they wouldn't want to live here where we have hurricanes either.

SurferGirl

I have friends that used to live in tornado alley and they would be under tornado watch quite often. I think that would bother me more than earthquakes. The building code in California is pretty good and most of the buildings can take quite a bit.

jasmine

not me, I live in tornado alley, and I can watch the news and warnings and know when it's coming my way and to take precautions, and find a hidey hole. The same with a hurricane. With a earthquake, your a sitting duck just wating for it to happen at any surprising time.

shadowcats

and this makes me sick at heart to think it mite be true......
i moved from miss to tenn . just for this reason , the hurricane threats and disasters which the coastal areas endured was just to much for me ,,,,,and now i worry about my other children , sigh but what can anyone do ,,,,, they have to live their own lives.......... sigh,,,,,,,,,, i just pray they arent close to the epicenter if it does ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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sandooch

I've lived through a tornado, a hurricane and an earthquate. Trust me, earthquakes are the worst. Like you said, at least you have a bit of warning for the first two, not an earthquake. I'm living for the day they can figure out how to give us at least 5 minutes warning that one is about to happen. Until then I just pray that my family and I are all together when the big one does hit.

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littlebuggy

I was born and raised in cali, my husband in ark., and i can tell you he likes his chances in a tornado and i like mine in an earthquake. They always say that the big one is coming in cali, have been saying it as long as i can remember. I remember the 89 quake up north, but tornados still scare the crap out of me. Now we live in ky, and i didn't know that there was a large fault line that ran through here intil last year when we had an earthquake. Woke me and my cat up, neither one of us knew what had happened, (because I never thought it would be an earthquake out here), until my best friend called me early the next morning asking if I had felt it. I'm still way more scared of a tornado, even with the warnings you get. I guess all you can do is prepare for whatever sort of weather your part of the country throws at you and pray for the best.

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sandooch

There are fault lines in many states, but I think California has the majority of them. I heard that New York is also due for a big one.

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