Re: New fault prediction - small quake
Posted by Don in Hollister on September 21, 2001 at 00:32:41:

Hi Billion. The location you gave is at the very southern end of the Great Valley fault. This is a thrust fault and was responsible for the Coalinga quake in 1983. To date that appears to be the southern most major quake on this fault. There was a major quake in 1892, which is known as the Vacaville/Winters quake. Those two towns are located just to the east of the Bay Area.

I did a search on the number of quakes in a 20 mile radius of your given location an found a number of them. The largest was a 3.6Ml in 1985 so this area is not a stranger to quakes.

There was a major quake in 1952 further south of your given location. It is known as the Kern County quake. This quake occurred on the White Wolf fault just south of Bakersfield. This is a reverse faulting, with a left-lateral component.

There could very easily be a fault in that area, but doubt that it goes as far west as Parkfield. As to a new forming that is possible also, but feel that none of us will be around to see it.

However I'm glad to see someone else jump in and get their feet wet in the prediction department. I was starting to feel like the Lone Stranger. Take Care…Don in creepy town


Follow Ups:
     ● Re: New fault prediction - small quake - Billion Watts  08:09:03 - 9/21/2001  (9566)  (0)