Earthquake swarm continues at California-Mexico border

The California border continued to rattle with significant seismic activity five days after a 5.8 earthquake struck the region.

The most recent strong aftershocks from Wednesday's quake registered 4.0 and 3.1, among scores that have occurred south of the border in the last few days. Some of these quakes have been felt by residents in California and Mexico, but there have been no reports of injuries or damage.

The strongest aftershock was 4.8. Most have been centered in Mexico near Mexicali and the town of Guadalupe Victoria.

The border area is considered a seismically active region, but quake experts say the 5.8 temblor is the kind of quake seen about once a decade.

The 5.8 quake was felt over a wide section of the Southwest, including San Diego, Phoenix and Tijuana. It occurred at 10:48 a.m. about 20 miles southeast of Mexicali.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, residents across Imperial County, San Diego County, Orange County and even Los Angeles County reported feeling the temblor.

-- Shelby Grad

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Comments

[BooZeR619]

Embarrassing to say, but this one caught me with my pants down. Felt water sloshing around a bit under me, not a cool feeling.

[anon]

I dunno if anyone at the paper reads these, but it would be nice if you could get an expert to talk about whether or not these earthquake swarms are evidence that the San Andreas is about to unzip.

The swarm is occuring at the south end of the fault just south of the Salton Sea. This is where the break will begin, when it breaks. It's been said that earthquake swarms presage a major fault break of the kind San Andreas will see in the relatively near future, possibly...the fault is already 150 years overdue to move, and underground rock layers in the Pacific Plate have already moved more than 40 feet north relative to the North American Plate, so a rupture is inevitable.

Some follow-up please.

[Martin]

"This is where the break will begin, when it breaks."

Tell that to the 1906 residents of San Francisco.