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Category: Earthquakes

Little California tsunami risk from British Columbia earthquake

November 17, 2009 |  8:17 am

A large earthquake off the coast of British Columbia this morning does not pose a major tsunami risk for California, according to federal officials.

Na-candaquake18 The magnitude 6.6 temblor struck this morning in the Queen Charlotte Islands region off the west coast of Canada. There was no immediate word of injuries or damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that "no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historic earthquake and tsunami data."

Two months ago, a temblor on the Pacific Ocean did prompt a warning about possible tsunami activity in Southern California, prompted lifeguards to close some beaches. But any rise in water level was so tiny that no one noticed it.

-- Shelby Grad


4.6 earthquake hits in San Bernardino County

November 16, 2009 |  1:48 pm

A magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit a remote area of San Bernardino County this afternoon.

The temblor struck east of Ridgecrest and north of Barstow at about 1:20 p.m. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The earthquake was centered near Searles Valley, about 117 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

It's the latest of several quakes to hit the region in the last day.

Earlier this morning, a magnitude 3.6 earthquake hit Riverside County east of Temecula. The temblor did not cause any damage, though it was felt in parts of the Inland Empire. It hit near the small town of Anza in southwestern part of the county.

A 4.3 temblor hit off San Nicholas Island Sunday afternoon, followed by a 3.6 aftershock.

-- Shelby Grad

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3.6 earthquake hits Riverside County area, Southland's third in a day

November 16, 2009 |  7:58 am

Me-quake16  A magnitude 3.6 earthquake hit Riverside County east of Temecula.

The temblor did not cause any damage, though it was felt in parts of the Inland Empire. It hit near the small town of Anza in southwestern Riverside County.

It was the third moderate quake to hit Southern California in the last 24 hours. A 4.3 temblor hit off San Nicholas Island Sunday afternoon, followed by a 3.6 aftershock.

Neither of those quakes caused damage or injuries.

-- Shelby Grad

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Underwater quake recorded off Ventura County

November 15, 2009 |  4:39 pm

USGS earthquake map of Southern California dated Sunday, Nov. 14 at 8:30 p.m. The blue squares represent tremblors in the last day and the yellow mark earthquakes in the last week. A 4.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the ocean floor Sunday afternoon 13 miles east-southeast of San Nicolas Island in Ventura County.

The temblor struck at 2:45 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. A 3.6 magnitude aftershock occurred three minutes later.

San Nicolas Island, the most remote of the Channel Islands, has no official population and is used by the Navy as a weapons testing site. There were no reports of damage.

Nick Scheckel, a seismic analyst at Caltech, said the quake occurred more than three miles below the ocean floor and was felt weakly in Santa Monica and Oxnard.

--Alan Zarembo

Map: USGS earthquake map of Southern California dated Sunday, Nov. 14 at 8:30 p.m. The blue squares represent tremblors in the last day and the yellow mark earthquakes in the last week. Credit: USGS


4.0 earthquake strikes U.S.-Mexico border

November 2, 2009 | 11:56 am

Instrumental Intensity Image

A 4.0 earthquake struck Imperial County, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The temblor struck at 11:27 a.m. about nine miles west of Calexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There had been several other smaller quakes in that same area along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last few hours.

The temblor was felt in Imperial County and as far away as Laguna Niguel, San Diego and Fallbrook, according to the USGS.

-- Shelby Grad

Map: USGS

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3.3 earthquake hits San Bernardino County

October 21, 2009 |  7:06 am

A 3.3 earthquake struck San Bernardino County this morning, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.

The quake hit at 6:17 a.m. about 10 miles from Yucaipa and 113 miles from Los Angeles.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the temblor was felt in parts of the Inland Empire including Beaumont, Perris, Forest Falls, Highland, Perris, Big Bear Lake and Redlands.

The quake orginated at a depth of 4.7 miles, according to the USGS.

--Shelby Grad

Continue reading »

Magnitude 3.2 earthquake is reported near Oxnard [Updated]

October 16, 2009 | 10:17 pm

Oxnardquake A minor earthquake occurred at 9:53 p.m. today near Oxnard, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The magnitude 3.2 temblor occurred four miles east-southeast of Oxnard at a depth of roughly one mile.

[Updated at 10:10 p.m.: There have been no reports of damage, according to the Oxnard Police Department.]

—Richard Winton

Map: U.S. Geological Survey


State superintendent joins students in earthquake drill

October 15, 2009 | 12:20 pm

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell joined a group of Los Angeles teachers and students this morning in the Great California Shake Out, a statewide earthquake drill that had O’Connell and others seeking cover under tables and desks.

Watching the superintendent dive under a table “was fun to see,” said Lance Webster, spokesman for Earthquake Country Alliance, a statewide organization that serves as a clearinghouse for various groups that provide earthquake information and services. “You don’t always expect to see the big wigs jump under a table when there’s a drill.”

More than 100 students from Lenicia B. Weemes Elementary School participated in the drill at the California Science Center's Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation. They were among more than 6.8 million people – including 4 million students -- who participated in the drill statewide.

Continue reading »

State's largest-ever earthquake drill begins this morning

October 15, 2009 |  6:55 am

At 10:15 this morning, scores of people across California are expected to participate in what is billed as the largest earthquake drill ever.

Shakeout The Great California Shakeout is intended to help people and organizations to prepare and protect themselves during earthquakes. Last year, nearly 5.5 million people took part in the drill, according to event organizers. 

Schoolchildren will practice the "drop, cover and hold on" drill, and many organizations will go over their emergency plans.

The drill is being staged through a partnership of a number of organizations, including the American Red Cross, California Department of Education and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Last year's drill produced some significant findings.

Data from suggested that about five high-rise steel-framed buildings in the region would have collapsed in the modeled magnitude 7.8 quake. High-rise steel-framed buildings sustained less damage than unreinforced brick and older concrete buildings in the analysis.

Continue reading »

Micro quake hits near Rancho Cucamonga

October 14, 2009 | 11:53 am

A magnitude 2.7 earthquake struck north of Rancho Cucamonga this morning but caused no apparent injuries or damage, authorities said.

The micro quake hit at 10:55 a.m. at a depth of 6 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The strongest quake to hit the area recently was in 2008, when a magnitude 5.4 quake hit near Diamond Bar.

-- Andrew Blankstein

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Ground motion examined as factor in L.A. water main breaks

October 9, 2009 | 12:00 pm

The investigation into what could be causing a sharp rise in “major blowouts” of Los Angeles water mains has expanded to examine whether tectonic activity might be playing a role.

The L.A. Department of Water and Power have asked scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for help. As it happened, JPL officials were already evaluating ground movement in the Los Angeles Basin because of a several recent minor earthquakes.

Examining the timing and location of the breaks, JPL scientists notice “some deviation from the normal range” of ground movement in L.A. in the last 100 days, said Andrea Donnellan, a geophysicist at JPL.

“We’re trying to understand,” she told The Times.

Donnellan said scientists concluded there has been a change in ground movement by using GPS data from sensors embedded in the ground across the Los Angeles Basin. 

Continue reading »

4.1 earthquake hits Eastern Sierra, latest in swarm

October 6, 2009 | 11:42 am

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake hit the Eastern Sierra region of California today, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

The quake struck at about 11:06 a.m. near the town of Keeler in Inyo County.

The quake hit in the same general area as a swarm of temblors last week that rattled Inyo County. Scores of mostly tiny temblors have been recorded in the region over the last week.

-- Shelby Grad

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No damage reported in latest California earthquake swarm

October 1, 2009 |  7:54 am

Earthquake Index Map

A swarm of more than 30 earthquakes hit Inyo County this morning, including a 5.1 temblor, but caused no damage or injuries.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there have been more than 30 temblors centered about seven miles from the tiny town of Keeler, 11 miles from Lone Pine and 148 miles from Las Vegas. While most temblors in the quake swarm were tiny, there were several 3.5 aftershocks to the 5.1 main quake.

If other quake swarms offer a clue, there could be many more quakes in the area before this swarm is over.

Continue reading »

Earthquake swarm hits California's Eastern Sierra, including 5.1 Inyo County temblor [updated]

October 1, 2009 |  7:18 am

Inyo County was struck by a swarm of earthquakes this morning, including a 5.1 temblor around 3 a.m.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there have been more than 30 temblors centered about seven miles from the tiny town of Keeler, 11 miles from Lone Pine and 148 miles from Las Vegas.

Continue reading »

California tsunami advisory gives officials a chance to prepare, beachgoers something to do

September 30, 2009 |  7:39 am

As Los Angeles-area beaches were expecting a possible tidal surge, three Venice surfers paddled out into the darkness to catch some tsunami waves.

[A headline on an earlier version of this post referred to a tsunami warning. It was an tsunami advisory, not a warning.]

The tsunami advisory for California didn't bring major waves, but it offered officials what they considered a welcome opportunity to test their quake-preparation plans.

Since the massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, California officials have been beefing up their own preparedness for a tsunami. Tsunami evacuation signs have been installed and plans put into place.

When federal authorities issued a tsunami advisory Tuesday afternoon, officials sprang into action. But the response was uneven. Some agencies said they would close beaches and evacuate marinas, but little of that actually occurred. Lifeguards kept a watchful eye, but life pretty much went on as normal at local beaches.

Dozens of people stood on the Venice Pier around 9 p.m., about the time when the swell was supposed to occur. Many were in a rowdy mood, shouting "tsunami" while three wave riders bobbed in the water.

One of the surfers caught a small wave and rode toward the shore. "I think that was the tsunami!" he shouted out.

Venice resident Luke Patterson smoked a cigarette as he leaned over the side of the pier. He had come to watch his friend surf after they heard about the tsunami advisory on the news.

"So far," he said. "it's pretty anticlimactic."

Continue reading »

Highest tides expected near Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo as tsunami advisory prompts L.A. beach closures

September 29, 2009 |  5:54 pm


Tsunamimap

National Weather Service forecasters in California said they believe rising ocean levels caused by the massive American Samoa earthquake will be mostly felt along the Central Coast, roughly from the Monterey Bay sound to Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.

Officials who issued the tsunami advisory for the Pacific coast said they don't expect major damage. But they predicted the tides will rise 1 to 2 feet in areas such as San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay and Cayucos, said Curt Kaplan of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.  In those areas, light damage to boat is a possibility, he said.

Los Angeles County lifeguards said they will clear beaches beginning at 8 p.m. The higher-than-usual tides are expected to hit at roughly 9 p.m. Pacific time.

At King Harbor in Redondo Beach, officials plan to tell boat dwellers in the marina to head for higher ground after 8 p.m. and to make sure nothing is loose on their boats.

“We want them to batten down the hatches, make sure there’s nothing loose on the boats and secure their lines,” said Michael Aaker, president of King Harbor. “We are advising people to have a 9 o’clock dinner up on the hill tonight.”

In Seal Beach, where beaches normally close at 10 p.m., officials will close an hour early "just as a precaution," said Marine Safety Chief Joe Bailey. "We want the beach to be empty just in case anything happens," he said. "We don't want any crowds."

Continue reading »

L.A. lifeguards clear beaches amid tsunami advisory for California coast

September 29, 2009 |  4:48 pm

L.A. County lifeguards will be clearing beaches around 8 p.m. in response to a tsunami advisory for the California coast issued after a 7.9 temblor in American Samoa.

Officials said that they don't believe coastal regions are likely to suffer much damage but that some beaches could see higher-than-usual tides about 9 p.m. Pacific time.

At King Harbor in Redondo Beach, officials plan to tell boat dwellers in the marina to head for higher ground after 8 p.m. and to make sure nothing is loose on their boats.

Los Angeles County Lifeguard Capt. Terry Harvey said fire officials were notified of the advisory around 3:30 p.m.

He said protocols were initiated including notifying field units to provide extra patrols in affected areas and to report any change in tides, surges or conditions.

Continue reading »

Tsunami advisory for California after American Samoa earthquake

September 29, 2009 |  4:01 pm

Federal officials issued a tsunami advisory for the California coast after a 7.9 temblor struck American Samoa earlier today.

Officials said that they don't believe coastal regions are likely to suffer much damage but that some beaches could see higher-than-usual tides about 9 p.m. Pacific time. Curt Kaplan of the National Weather Service in Oxnard said the seismic activity could bring waves a foot higher than normal.

"This is an advisory, not a warning," he said. "But if I were on the [immediate] coast, I would move inland."

He said "light fluctuation in tides and currents" are expected and could last for several hours.

Continue reading »

No California tsunami warning from magnitude 7.9 American Samoa earthquake

September 29, 2009 | 11:46 am

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck in Pacific Ocean near American Samoa today, but officials have not issued a tsunami warning for the California coast.

The temblor hit about 10:48 p.m. PDT, and there was no immediate word of injuries or damage.

Federal authorities said it's unclear whether the quake formed a tsunami -- but even if it did, there is no danger to the Pacific coast of California, Oregon or Washington at this time.

Officials did issue a watch for the Hawaiian Islands as well as other island areas, including New Zealand and New Guinea.

American Samoa is more than 4,000 miles from Los Angeles.

-- Shelby Grad


Small quake recorded near Valencia

August 17, 2009 | 10:37 pm

A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded tonight three miles southwest of Valencia; it caused no apparent damages or injuries, authorities said.

The quake, about 5 miles southwest of Saugus, struck at 10:12 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department station in Santa Clarita said there were no reports of damage or injuries.

--Robert J. Lopez


Two earthquakes rattle California this morning

August 7, 2009 |  7:07 am

Two earthquake hit California overnight, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

Just before 2 a.m., a magnitude 3.3 temblor struck the Fontana area, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. It was felt in neighborhood San Bernardino County cities as well as several cities in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

Then at 3:49 a.m., a quake occurred in Northern California off the coast of Petrolia in Humboldt County. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, that quake was felt around the county.

The USGS classified both temblors as "light."

-- Shelby Grad


4.0 earthquake hits off coast of San Diego

July 11, 2009 |  8:16 am

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck off the coast of San Diego this morning. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake struck 7:34 a.m. about 30 miles west of La Jolla and 37 miles west of San Diego, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake originated about 12 miles underground, the USGS estimated.

The shaker was felt across San Diego County including Oceanside, Escondido, Vista and Carlsbad, as well as in Temecula, Laguna Niguel and Ladera Ranch.

The USGS classified the quake as "light."

-- Shelby Grad

Deep tremors appear to have foreshadowed large 2004 quake

July 9, 2009 | 11:00 am

Under the central part of the San Andreas fault, the deep seismic whisperings known as tremors have increased after two recent large earthquakes, and a surge in tremors appears to have foreshadowed one of them, according to a study to be published Friday in the journal Science.

“It reaffirms the need to be ready,” said Robert Nadeau, a research seismologist at UC Berkeley who led the study. “The San Andreas fault is changing down deep and it’s changing down deep in places where large earthquakes have happened in the past.”

Among the findings was an unusually strong tremor episode three weeks before the magnitude-6.0 Parkfield earthquake in 2004. If more of these kinds of signals are found before other large earthquakes, they could provide a kind of early warning, said Greg Beroza, a seismologist at Stanford University who was not involved in this study.

“There have been plenty of tremor episodes that have not triggered earthquakes in other places,” he said. “This one might make the strongest case.”

Predicting large quakes with precision is the elusive Holy Grail. Scientists have only been able to calculate probabilities for quakes in certain areas by analyzing a time line of ruptures and calculating the amount of stress building on a fault. The latest study may potentially inch us closer to having an actual predictor, scientists said.

Earthquakes typically generate clear seismic waves with sharp onsets, tailing off after a minute or two, seismologists said. Tremors vibrate quietly and can continue for days. Tremors also tend to happen in a deeper, softer part of the Earth’s crust than the upper part typically thought to generate earthquakes.

Seismologists used to ignore tremors because they looked like noise in the data caused by wind or cars.

Until recently, scientists also had difficulty storing the enormous amounts of data required to detect tremors. About 10 years ago, Japanese seismologists discovered deep tremors when they took a closer look at the background noise.

Since then, scientists have detected tremors in the Pacific Northwest and below the San Andreas. Nadeau’s study focused on the San Andreas fault in the Parkfield region, about 170 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Nadeau and graduate student Aurelie Guilhem combed through seismometer data from July 2001 to February 2009. That period included two strong earthquakes: the magnitude-6.5 San Simeon earthquake of 2003 and the Parkfield temblor the next year. Even though the San Simeon quake originated on a fault about 40 miles away from the San Andreas fault in Parkfield, the quake appeared to set off stress changes under the San Andreas, Nadeau said.

The tremor activity in the Parkfield area 45 days after the San Simeon quake more than doubled compared with the 45 days before the quake. About eight months later, they saw a five-day spike of tremors about 10 times more active than the average before the San Simeon quake. The tremors quieted, but the Parkfield earthquake hit about three weeks later on the San Andreas.

This surge can be considered a “foretremor” of the Parkfield quake because the events are close together in time, Nadeau said. But, he added, “we don’t have enough resolution to say there’s a mechanical connection between the two.”

The Parkfield quake appeared to stimulate the tremors again, raising the activity level to about six times the level before the San Simeon quake. Since then, tremor activity has remained high, varying from 1.5 to two times the level before the San Simeon quake.

Scientists still do not understand the exact relationship between tremors and quakes, Nadeau said. But more tremors probably means more stress on the fault, he said, and that suggests “an increased probability of an earthquake coming sooner rather than later.” 

 -- Jia-Rui Chong


Flying radar system to help track California's earthquake faults

June 23, 2009 |  7:20 am

Quakedata

A new radar imaging system on the belly of a Gulfstream jet that is flying over California’s complicated network of faults has started collecting some of the most detailed images yet of the Earth’s surface shifting and straining with seismic energy, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

“This will show us where the faults are active,” said Andrea Donnellan, a JPL geophysicist who is one of the project’s principal investigators. “Where the ground is moving tells us what’s going on at depth.”

The data from this project could help scientists figure out where the risk of earthquake activity is highest, though the data will never be so specific as to predict a day, location and magnitude of a quake, she said. “This will help us with the five- to 10-year time horizons,” Donnellan said. “We can see hot spot maps and ... figure out where to target our retrofitting.”

The device, the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (even though it is currently being used on a human-piloted plane), mounted on the plane shoots long-wavelength radar beams at features on the ground and measures the reflections.

Based at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, the plane flies about 45,000 feet above the ground along GPS-guided trajectories.

The project will map faults across about 70% of California, including a wide swath of Southern California, said the project’s chief scientist, Scott Hensley.

Continue reading »

Small quakes rattle Malibu area

June 21, 2009 |  2:14 pm

Two small earthquakes separated by 47 seconds shook an area a few miles west of the Malibu coast Saturday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

 

The first quake, which registered a magnitude of 2.8, hit about six miles northwest of Malibu at 8:39 p.m. The second one, which was close to the first and registered 2.6, struck at 8:40 p.m.

 

The quakes were centered about 35 to 38 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

 

-- Ari B. Bloomekatz




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