Some of the world's largest megacities are located right in the area of the most dangerous faults in the earth's crust. Californians living along the San Andreas fault line are constantly threatened by devastating earthquakes.
At first glance, the streets of Taft, in central California, are no different from the streets of any other city. North America. Houses and gardens along wide avenues, parking lots, street lights every few steps. However, more gaze discovers that the line of the same lamps is not entirely straight, and the street seems to be twisted, as if it were taken by the ends and pulled in different directions. The reason for these oddities is that Taft, like many of California's major urban centers, is built along the San Andreas Fault, a crack in the Earth's crust that runs 1,050 km across the United States.
The strip, stretching from the coast north of San Francisco to the Gulf of California and extending approximately 16 km inland, is a line connecting two of the 12 tectonic plates, on which the oceans and continents of the Earth are located.
The average thickness of these plates is about 100 km, they are located in constant movement, drifting on the surface of the liquid inner mantle and colliding with each other with monstrous force as their location changes. If they creep on top of each other, huge mountain ranges such as the Alps and Himalayas rise into the sky. However, the circumstances that gave rise to the San Andreas Fault are completely different.
Here are the edges of the North American (on which most of this continent rests) and the Pacific (which supports most California coast) tectonic plates are like poorly fitted gear teeth that do not fit one on top of the other, but also do not fit neatly into the grooves intended for them. The plates rub against one another, and the friction energy generated along their boundaries has no outlet. Where such energy accumulates in the fault determines where the next earthquake will occur and how strong it will be.
In the so-called “floating zones,” where plate movement occurs relatively freely, the accumulated energy is released in thousands of small tremors, causing virtually no damage and recorded only by the most sensitive seismographs. Other sections of the fault - they are called “lock zones” - seem completely motionless, where the plates are pressed against one another so tightly that no movement occurs for hundreds of years. The tension gradually increases until finally both plates move, releasing all the accumulated energy in a powerful jerk. Then earthquakes occur with a magnitude of at least 7 on the Richter scale, similar to the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
Between the two described above lie intermediate zones, whose activity, although not as destructive as in the castle zones, is nevertheless significant. The city of Parkfield, located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, lies in this intermediate zone. Earthquakes with a magnitude of up to b on the Richter scale can be expected here every 20-30 years; the last one happened in Parkfield in 1966. The phenomenon of earthquake cyclicity is unique to this region.
Since 200 AD e. 12 occurred in California major earthquakes, but it was the 1906 disaster that brought the San Andreas Fault to the attention of the whole world. This earthquake, with its epicenter in San Francisco, caused destruction over a colossal area stretching from north to south for 640 km. Along the fault line, the soil shifted 6 m in a matter of minutes - fences and trees were toppled, roads and communication systems were destroyed, the water supply stopped, and fires that followed the earthquake raged throughout the city.
As geological science has developed, more advanced measuring instruments have appeared that can constantly monitor the movements and pressure of water masses under the earth's surface. For a number of years before a major earthquake seismic activity increases slightly, so it is quite possible that they can be predicted many hours or even days in advance.
Architects and civil engineers take into account the possibility of earthquakes and design buildings and bridges that can withstand a certain amount of ground vibration. Thanks to these measures, the 1989 San Francisco earthquake destroyed mostly older structures without causing damage to modern skyscrapers.
Then 63 people died - most due to the collapse of a huge section of the double-decker Bay Bridge. According to scientists, California is facing a serious disaster in the next 50 years. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale is expected to occur in southern California, in the Los Angeles area. It could cause billions of dollars in damage and claim 17,000-20,000 lives, with smoke and fires potentially killing an additional 11.5 million people. And because frictional energy along a fault line tends to accumulate, each year that gets us closer to an earthquake increases its likely severity.
At first glance, the streets of Taft, in central California, are no different from the streets of any other city in North America. Houses and gardens along wide avenues, parking lots, street lights every few steps. However, a closer look reveals that the line of the same lamps is not entirely straight, and the street seems to twist, as if it were taken by the ends and pulled in different directions.
The reason for these oddities is that Taft, like many large urban centers in California, is built along the San Andreas Fault - a crack in the earth's crust, 1050 km of which runs through the United States.
The strip, which stretches from the coast north of San Francisco to the Gulf of California and extends approximately 16 km inland, represents the line between two of the 12 tectonic plates on which the Earth's oceans and continents are located.
The average thickness of these plates is about 100 km, they are in constant motion, drifting on the surface of the liquid inner mantle and colliding with each other with monstrous force as their location changes. If they creep on top of each other, huge mountain ranges such as the Alps and Himalayas rise into the sky. However, the circumstances that gave rise to the San Andreas Fault are completely different.
Here, the edges of the North American (on which much of this continent rests) and Pacific (which supports most of the Californian coast) tectonic plates are like ill-fitting gear teeth that do not fit one another, but do not fit neatly into the grooves intended for them. The plates rub against one another, and the friction energy generated along their boundaries has no outlet. Where such energy accumulates in the fault determines where the next earthquake will occur and how strong it will be.
In the so-called “floating zones,” where plate movement occurs relatively freely, the accumulated energy is released in thousands of small tremors, causing virtually no damage and recorded only by the most sensitive seismographs. Other sections of the fault - they are called “lock zones” - seem completely motionless, where the plates are pressed against one another so tightly that no movement occurs for hundreds of years. The tension gradually increases until finally both plates move, releasing all the accumulated energy in a powerful jerk. Then earthquakes occur with a magnitude of at least 7 on the Richter scale, similar to the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
Between the two described above lie intermediate zones, whose activity, although not as destructive as in the castle zones, is nevertheless significant. The city of Parkfield, located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, lies in this intermediate zone. Earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 6 on the Richter scale can be expected here every 20-30 years; the last one happened in Parkfield in 1966. The phenomenon of earthquake cyclicity is unique to this region.
Since 200 AD e. There have been 12 major earthquakes in California, but it was the 1906 disaster that brought the San Andreas Fault to the attention of the whole world. This earthquake, with its epicenter in San Francisco, caused destruction over a colossal area stretching from north to south for 640 km. Along the fault line, the soil shifted 6 m in a matter of minutes - fences and trees were toppled, roads and communication systems were destroyed, the water supply stopped, and fires that followed the earthquake raged throughout the city.
As geological science has developed, more advanced measuring instruments have appeared that can constantly monitor the movements and pressure of water masses under the earth's surface. For a number of years before a major earthquake, seismic activity increases slightly, so it is quite possible that they can be predicted many hours or even days in advance.
Architects and civil engineers take into account the possibility of earthquakes and design buildings and bridges that can withstand a certain amount of ground vibration. Thanks to these measures, the 1989 San Francisco earthquake destroyed mostly older structures without causing damage to modern skyscrapers.
Then 63 people died - most due to the collapse of a huge section of the double-decker Bay Bridge. According to scientists, California is facing a serious disaster in the next 50 years. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale is expected to occur in southern California, in the Los Angeles area. It could cause billions of dollars in damage and claim 17,000-20,000 lives, with smoke and fires potentially killing an additional 11.5 million people. And because frictional energy along a fault line tends to accumulate, each year that gets us closer to an earthquake increases its likely severity.
Lithospheric plates move very slowly, but not constantly. The movement of the plates occurs approximately at the rate of growth of human nails - 3-4 centimeters per year. This movement can be seen on roads that cross the San Andreas Fault: displaced road markings and signs of regular road repairs are visible at the fault site.
In the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles, the asphalt of streets sometimes bulges as forces accumulating along a fault line put pressure on the mountain range. As a result, on the western side rocks shrink and crumble, annually forming up to 7 tons of fragments, which are getting closer and closer to Los Angeles.
If the strata stress is not discharged long time, then the movement occurs suddenly, with a sharp jerk. This happened during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, when in the area of the epicenter the “left” part of California shifted relative to the “right” by almost 7 meters
The shift began 10 kilometers under the ocean floor in the San Francisco area, after which, within 4 minutes, the shear impulse spread along 430 kilometers of the San Andreas fault - from the village of Mendocino to the town of San Juan Bautista. The earthquake measured 7.8 on the Richter scale. The whole city was flooded.
By the time the fires broke out, more than 75% of the city had already been destroyed, with 400 city blocks in ruins, including the center.
Two years after the devastating earthquake in 1908, geological research began, which continues to this day. Research has shown that over the past 1,500 years, major earthquakes have occurred along the San Andreas Fault approximately every 150 years.
Plate tectonics is the main process that largely shapes the appearance of the Earth. The word “tectonics” comes from the Greek “tekton” - “builder” or “carpenter”; in tectonics, plates are called pieces of the lithosphere. According to this theory, the Earth's lithosphere is formed by giant plates that give our planet a mosaic structure. It is not continents that move across the surface of the earth, but lithospheric plates. Moving slowly, they carry continents and the ocean floor with them. The plates collide with each other, squeezing out the earth's surface in the form of mountain ranges and mountain systems, or are pushed deeper, creating ultra-deep depressions in the ocean. Their mighty activity is interrupted only by brief catastrophic events - earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Almost all geological activity is concentrated along plate boundaries.
San Andreas Fault The thick line running down from the center of the picture is a perspective view of California's famous San Andreas Fault. The image created using data collected by SRTM (Radar Topographic Imaging) will be used by geologists to study the dynamics of faults and the shapes of the Earth's surface resulting from active tectonic processes. This segment of the fault is located west of Palmdale, California, about 100 km northwest of Los Angeles. The fault represents an active tectonic boundary between the North American Plate on the right and the Pacific Plate on the left. In relation to each other, the Pacific platform is away from the viewer, and the North American platform is towards the viewer. Two large mountain ranges are also visible: the San Gabriel Mountains on the left and the Tehachapi Mountains on the upper right. Another fault, the Garlock, lies at the foot of the Tehachapi ridge. The San Andreas and Garlock faults meet in the center of the image near the town of Gorman. In the distance, above the Tehachapi Mountains, lies California's Central Valley. Antelope Valley can be seen along the base of the hills on the right side of the image.
The San Andreas Fault runs along the line of contact between two tectonic plates - the North American and Pacific. The plates move relative to each other by about 5 cm per year. This creates severe stresses in the crust and regularly causes large earthquakes centered on the fault line. Well, small tremors happen here all the time. Until now, despite the most careful observations, it has not been possible to identify signs of an upcoming large earthquake in the data on weak tremors.
The San Andreas Fault, which cuts across the west coast of North America, is a transform fault, that is, one where two plates slide along each other. Near transform faults, earthquake foci are shallow, usually less than 30 km below the Earth's surface. The two tectonic plates in the San Andreas system move relative to each other at a rate of 1 cm per year. The stresses caused by the movement of the plates are absorbed and accumulated, gradually reaching a critical point. Then, instantly, the rocks crack, the plates shift and an earthquake occurs.
This is not a still from the filming of another disaster movie, or even computer graphics.
Highway workers in the Californian city of Hayward repaired a displaced curb that had been a clear example activity of the Hayward Fault. Seismologists have been monitoring this curb for more than 45 years. /website/
The famous curb was located at the intersection of Rose and Prospect streets. It gradually shifted relative to the other curb, which aroused great interest among scientists. From 1974 to 1979, the curb, along with part of the road, moved about two centimeters. Over time, the border slabs lying nearby stopped touching completely.
However local authorities decided to repair the road and installed a ramp at the site of the shift for wheelchairs. It turned out that the city administration simply did not know about the importance of this place. “If we had known about the shift, we probably would have looked at the curb differently and even tried to help scientists document it,” said Assistant City Manager Kelly McAdoo.
"It is sad. It was a real disappointment. It was indeed unusual to have such evidence of a fault right here. Now all scientists are left with are photographs that document the pavement slipping over the years,” Auckland science journalist Andrew Alden wrote on his blog.
This shift most clearly demonstrated the movement of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, but there was other evidence of underground activity. In addition to the displacement of curbs, seismologists observed cracks in the asphalt, divergence of columns in the colonnade of a sports stadium, and other signs. Scientists collected more accurate data using high-precision sensors installed at the fault boundaries.
Studying the displacement of the curb was very important for scientists, since the movement of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates in the near future may cause strong earthquake. In addition, the displacement of these plates caused a much more dangerous fault - the San Andreas Fault. While the Hayward Fault accounts for some of the overall movement between the plates, the San Andreas Fault is the major transformation of the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates.
San Andreas Fault
This fault extends 1,300 kilometers along the coast of the state of California, mostly on land. The fault goes deep about 16 kilometers. Thickness lithospheric plates- approximately 100 kilometers. They drift along the liquid lava, creeping one on top of the other, causing earthquakes and other disasters.
The edges of two plates on the San Andreas Fault resemble poorly fitting teeth on a gear. They rub against each other, and the friction energy generated along their boundaries finds no outlet. In places where plate movement occurs relatively freely, the accumulated energy is released in thousands of small shocks. They cause almost no damage and are recorded only by sensitive instruments.
In other places the plates are pressed quite tightly, and when they move, they immediately release powerful energy. Then earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 7 on the Richter scale occur. Such an earthquake could occur in the next 50 years, seismologists say. It could cause billions of dollars in damage and claim up to 20,000 lives.
Double break
San Andreas is considered the most likely location for the next seismic event in the next few decades. However, the disaster could be more devastating if San Andreas activity impacts the San Jacinto Fault, which runs through San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial County in Southern California.
Juliana S. Lozos, an assistant professor of geological sciences at the University of California, Riverside, determined that a similar event occurred about 200 years ago. It caused a powerful shock that was felt on large territory from Los Angeles to San Diego. The magnitude 7.5 San Juan Capistrano earthquake that occurred on December 8, 1812 was the result of two faults rupturing simultaneously, Lozos said.
It was previously believed that the earthquake was caused by the San Andreas Fault. However, computer modeling showed that the earthquake began further south - in the San Jacinto area, and then involved San Andreas in the disaster. The simultaneous activity of two faults can be very dangerous for California. The state's infrastructure was built to withstand tremors caused by a single fault. The consequences of a simultaneous rupture can be unpredictable.
Cascadia Fault
The Cascadia Fault, which extends 900 kilometers from Vancouver Island to Northern California, also poses a serious danger to the United States. Cascadia lies at the junction of the oceanic plate and the North American continental plate. The ocean plate compresses the continental plate, as a result of which it shrinks by 30–40 mm annually.
According to seismologists, sooner or later the pressure between the plates will accumulate to the limit, after which a strong shock will occur, leading to a megaearthquake with a magnitude of 8.7 to 9.2. The shock will cause a giant wave, some of which will even reach Japan. The wave can rise to a height of up to 30 meters, seismologists believe. According to the US Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cascadia could cause the death of 13 thousand people.
Seismologists consider Cascadia more dangerous than San Andreas, since the movement of Cascadia will entail not only an earthquake, but also a giant tsunami. Moreover, 45 years ago scientists did not know about the existence of this fault. Therefore, the United States is not prepared for such destructive events. The country's authorities have begun conducting large-scale exercises in case of a disaster in the Cascadia subduction zone. FEMA plans to conduct them in the future.
New Madrid Fault
The north of the American state of Alabama is located in the zone of influence of the New Madrid Fault. This fault is about 20 times larger than the San Andreas. Last earthquake occurred in this seismic zone in 1812. However, in Lately activity along the fault line began to increase.
"I think most people know that an earthquake can happen here, but they just can't remember last time when they were shaking,” said Gary Patterson, a geologist at the Memphis Earthquake Research and Information Center. Earthquakes that previously occurred in this region were felt at a distance of 1,000 to 1,200 kilometers from the epicenter, the scientist noted.
According to FEMA's scenario, more than 900 people in Alabama could be affected by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake. In the United States as a whole, 86 thousand residents may be affected. Computer modeling based on the 1812 earthquake showed that a repeat of the same seismic event is possible in the next 50 years.
American scientists were seriously frightened by a series of 10 earthquakes that occurred last week in Monterey County, California, in the west of the country. This event has raised fears that the region could be seriously affected by fire in the near future. major disaster, reported the Daily Star.
According to the publication, the strongest was a magnitude 4.6 shock 13 miles northeast of Gonzales in the area of the San Andreas Fault. In this notorious zone, which stretches along the entire California, according to seismologists, a serious earthquake with a magnitude of at least 7.0 has long been brewing.
Within a radius of several kilometers from the underground disturbance of magnitude 4.6, another 134 tremors occurred during the week. Of these, 17 had a magnitude greater than 2.5, and six had a magnitude greater than 3.0.
Ole Kaven, a seismologist with the USGS, said he expects more aftershocks in the coming weeks.
We suspect aftershocks in the 2.0 to 3.0 range for at least several weeks
- Caven
There have been no reports of injuries or significant damage from the earthquakes so far.
Seismological experts are confident that such a number of tremors has sharply increased the chances of a colossal earthquake in the region in the short term. Forecasts of a powerful cataclysm awaiting the United States are already overdue, they say, by about 50 years or more. Tension along the San Andreas Fault has been building for 150 years, and this is leading to a major disaster. 
Seismologist Lucy Jones of the US Geological Survey said a major earthquake was being considered as the most likely cause of the disaster in California.
When we have a big earthquake in the San Andreas area, it will be felt in Las Vegas, Arizona, and the San Francisco Bay Area
- Jones
The damage and death toll could be catastrophic, she said. So, we can talk about the destruction of about 300 thousand houses, the death of thousands of people and damage in hundreds of billions of dollars.
The San Andreas is a 1,300 kilometer long fault between the North American and Pacific plates. It runs along the coast of the state of California, mostly on land. The fault is associated with earthquakes reaching magnitude 9.0 and causing surface displacements of up to seven meters. Most serious disasters occurred in the area in 1906 and 1989. On February 26, 2016, the Global Forecast System recorded high and large-scale concentrations of carbon monoxide in the west coast of the United States and Canada. The gas release occurred near major geological faults over a vast area from British Columbia through the states of Washington, Oregon and to California. Geologists and geochemists see this as a sign of an upcoming powerful earthquake.
Previously, American experts predicted in densely populated tropical regions of the world in 2018. The reason for this will be a change in the speed of rotation of the Earth - the planet will move a little slower than usual.
St. Andreas Fault. Will San Francisco disappear into the earth's crust?
http://newtimes.ru/magazine/2008/issue063/doc-47647.html
In April 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco, killing more than 3,000 people and leaving 300,000 homeless. 83 years later, another thing happened, although not so terrible in terms of consequences. Catastrophists predict: sooner or later there will be a big earthquake that will level San Francisco to the ground, and the city will disappear into huge gaps in the earth's crust. And the reason for this is a crack in the ground called the St. Andreas Fault. Can terrible earthquake be caused artificially? Where are the continents rushing and what forces pushed Africa away from South America- I was looking for answers to these questions The New Times
Yuri Panchul, Sunnyvale, California
During times cold war there was a story that supposedly there was a Soviet nuclear rocket, aimed at a certain point (“water tower”) in California, hitting which would cause the state’s crust to split into two pieces. After this, the western part would be flooded Pacific Ocean, which would cause the deaths of most of the 30 million Californians, including residents of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Of course, this story was not born in the USSR Ministry of Defense, but was a distorted account of the 1978 Hollywood film “Superman”.
1300 km of fear
But is there a grain of reality in this story? Along the coast of California there really is a 1,300-kilometer-long San Andreas fault, separating the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. The San Andreas (together with the adjacent Hayward, Calaveras and other faults) is a source of large earthquakes.
In some places the San Andreas is visible as a ravine, in other places it is almost invisible. The eastern and western sides of the fault move parallel to each other: the western - to the north, and the eastern - to the south. The movement of the plates occurs approximately at the rate of growth of human nails - 3–4 centimeters per year. This movement can be seen on the roads that cross San Andreas: displaced road markings and signs of regular road repairs are visible at the fault site. The most visible manifestation of the “work” of the fault is ancient volcano Ninah, which was formed 23 million years ago, after which it was neatly, like a cake, “cut” by the San Andreas fault into two halves, and the left half “moved” along the fault 314 kilometers to the north over millions of years and became Pinnacles National Monument ( Pinnacles National Monument).
Where are the continents heading?
What forces move thousands of kilometers of pieces of the earth's surface? Until the 20th century, the answer to this question was unknown. More precisely, there was not even a question: geological science believed that the continents were motionless, and sections of the earth’s crust moved only down and up, according to accepted wisdom mid-19th centuries of geosyncline theory.
But since the 16th century, cartographers have noticed that the coasts of Africa and South America can be superimposed on each other, like two pieces broken plate, after which some researchers periodically put forward the idea that the continents were moving. The German scientist Alfred Wegener gave the most arguments. In 1915, Wegener showed that the coasts of different continents not only coincide in contour, but also contain the same rocks and fossils similar species animals. Wegener suggested that 200 million years ago there was a single supercontinent Pangea, which subsequently split into parts that became modern Eurasia, America, Australia and Antarctica. For 50 years, Wegener's theory was considered a bunch of random coincidences, since geophysicists believed it was impossible that a continent (a mass of rock) could move on another mass of rock (the solid floor of the oceans) without being destroyed by friction. The situation changed only after World War II, when the US military, using sonar, mapped the oceans and discovered in the middle of them long chains of seamounts, clearly of volcanic origin. Researcher Harry Hess showed that the bottom Atlantic Ocean moves apart in two directions from the mountain range passing through the middle of the Atlantic. The spreading ocean floor carries continents like a subway escalator carries passengers.
And who moves them...
As a result of the research of Hess and other scientists in the 1960s, a revolution occurred in geology comparable to the Copernican revolution in astronomy. It turned out that Earth's crust consists of several large plates (African, North American, Pacific, Eurasian and others), as well as large quantity small plates that move at a speed of several centimeters per year, colliding with each other. Each plate is about 100 kilometers thick. Beneath the plates that form the “lithosphere” is a hot, viscous layer about 200–400 kilometers thick called the asthenosphere. Tectonic plates “float” on it, carrying continents.
When plates collide, depending on the nature of the collision, mountains (for example, the Himalayas), island chains (for example, the Japanese islands), depressions and volcanoes are formed. When the oceanic and continental plates collide, the oceanic plate moves down. This is due to the fact that the ocean crust has a different chemical composition and greater density. Gerry Hess called the process a “conveyor belt”: new crust is born from solidified lava in the middle of the ocean, moves slowly for millions of years, after which it sinks back into the depths and melts.
Why do plates on the San Andreas Fault move sideways and not towards each other? The fact is that for 40 million years, a complex “dance” of three tectonic plates (Pacific, Farallon and North American) took place in the region, the boundaries between which passed at an angle to each other. The Farallon Plate was “pushed” under the North American Plate, after which the Pacific Plate began to slide sideways along former border Farallon and North American plates.
Tectonic plates are like froths driven by the convection currents of boiling soup. In the 19th century, scientists did not understand how this “soup” could continue to “boil” at all. According to the calculations of the famous physicist William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), according to the laws of thermodynamics, the Earth should have cooled in just 20 million years. This contradicted geologists' estimates of the age of the Earth. Thomson did not take into account the heating of the Earth by the decay of radioactive elements, which were discovered only at the beginning of the 20th century. Because of this heating, the Earth continues to be hot after four and a half billion years of existence. We live on a huge nuclear reactor- planet Earth!
Earth shaking
Well, okay, continents are moving, but how does this affect our lives, besides the need to periodically repair several small roads crossing the San Andreas Fault? The point is that the movement is not continuous. Each shift begins with an accumulation of stress, which is “discharged” by a jerk during a large or small earthquake. In the central part, the fault “creeps” due to thousands of microearthquakes that are not felt by humans. But sometimes the tension is not discharged for a long time, after which the movement occurs in a jump.
This happened during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, when in the area of the epicenter the “left” part of California shifted relative to the “right” by almost 7 meters. The shift began 10 kilometers under the ocean floor in the San Francisco area, after which, within 4 minutes, the shear pulse spread across 430 kilometers of the San Andreas Fault - from the village of Mendocino to the town of San Juan Bautista.
The main villain's plan
Thus, flooding coastal California with a targeted nuclear explosion on the San Andreas Fault you can't. The plates in the fault area do not move towards each other, but to the sides (along the line North South), so pushing the Pacific Plate under the North American Plate is less realistic than sinking an aircraft carrier with a kick. But is it possible to cause serious destruction with an artificial earthquake? Oddly enough, this idea was not only tested in Hollywood films. In 1966, geologists from the US Geological Survey (USGS) noticed an unexpected sequence of earthquakes in the area of the Rocky Flats military arsenal in Colorado. The timing of the earthquakes coincided exactly with the moments when the military got rid of liquid waste by pumping it under pressure deep into the ground. Geologists conducted an experiment by pumping water into an abandoned oil field near the town of Rangeley in Colorado. For the first time in history, people artificially caused an earthquake.
After this, the USGS briefly discussed the idea of preventing large earthquakes along the San Andreas by releasing fault stress using a large number of microquakes. However, the USGS decided not to experiment, since it is clear that they would not have enough money to pay in case of an error for the complete destruction of Los Angeles or San Francisco.
It could be worse
Despite the earthquakes, California is one of the nicest places to live on Earth. Most of the state's residents live in one or two-story houses and know the safety precautions. Therefore, the significant earthquake in San Francisco in 1989 did not cause much destruction. After all, there are problems in other places on the planet - hurricanes, tsunamis or unfavorable weather conditions. political situation. And the San Andreas Fault is not the most dangerous geological feature in the United States. For example, there is Yellowstone supervolcano, which about two million years ago covered the entire western half with ash modern territory USA. Great amount animals died even thousands of kilometers from the eruption - due to dust that got into the lungs and polluted drinking water. Such eruptions change the climate of the entire planet for years, causing a “volcanic winter.” But the topic of volcanoes and supervolcanoes deserves a separate article.
Information sources:
1. Michael Collier. A Land in Motion – California’s San Andreas Fault. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. University of California Press, 1999.
2. Allan A. Schoenherr. A Natural History of California. University of California Press, 1995
3. Sandra L. Keith. Pinnacles National Monument. Western National Parks Association. 2004.
4. Bill Bryson. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Broadway Books, 2005.
5. Wikipedia – Plate Tectonics, San Andreas Fault, Supervulcano, etc.
6. Man-made earthquake – http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=343
