Hi Tony. The quakes just southeast of the Bay Area is where I live. Those quakes you see there are quite normal. As a matter of fact if we didn’t have that many I would be a little nervous. All of those quakes mean just one thing. The fault is creeping along as usual. This area is one of a couple of areas where the fault is always moving.

Some of those quakes are occurring on the San Andreas fault and some on the Calaveras fault. If you were to drive down Forth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets in Hollister you will see the results of the movement of the Calaveras fault. 7 to 11mm of movement per year are offsetting all of the curbs, and sidewalks. The nice thing about these quakes is that we never feel them. Well almost never. We do get one now an then that keeps us honest.

As to the San Joaquin Region. There is only one active fault that I know of. That is the Great Valley fault. It runs along the base of the foothills on the west side of the valley. It starts just north of Bakersfield and ends somewhere near Winters in Northern California. This fault was responsible for the Coalinga quake in1983 and the Winters/Vacaville quakes of 1892. There could be more faults there, but they just haven’t been found yet. No major earthquake to tell anyone where they’re at.

As to the Los Angeles Basin. That is a quake waiting to happen. There are a number of faults down there that could cause a major quake so don’t be to quick to blame the San Andreas although I guess it could be said that if it wasn’t for the San Andreas fault the other faults might not be there, but that is highly unlikely as it would be something else.

The area of the San Andreas to watch is the section between Parkfield and Fort Tejon. The last major quake to occur along that section was in 1857. There have been little to no quakes along that section since then. Quakes at both ends, but nothing in the middle. Sooner or later it’s going to have to move to catch up with the movement north of there and to make room for the movement south of there. That could be next week, next year, or 100 years from now. I have the feeling though that it will be a lot sooner then a 100 years. Take Care…Don in creepy town