Wow maybe it will march up the San Andres hope not
I counted 16 quakes today down there of 3.0 magnitude or larger!! That is a lot of quaking!!!
2 were 5.0 or larger, and I believe 2 were 4.0 or larger!
The latest quake hit Monday morning, near Mexicali. Officials said the magnitude 4.9 — downgraded from 5.1 — earthquake struck at 10:29 a.m. The quake was centered 24 miles south-southeast of Calexico and was felt in parts of San Diego, Imperial and Orange counties and as far away as Yuma, Ariz., according to the USGS.
Late Friday, that same area was hit by a 5.4 earthquake, which shut down factories near the border and left 400,000 people without power, authorities said.
NBC 7/39 spoke with a seismologist at San Diego State University. Dr. Kim Olsen said the recent quakes are actually a swarm, or collection of quakes that hit roughly around the same time in the same area.
Normally, you have a big quake, followed by smaller aftershocks. But the USGS said a swarm is different. The big quake is not at the beginning of the series and it’s not always that much bigger than the other quakes.
Monday’s quake was followed by a series of aftershocks, including one that measured a 3.6 magnitude. Olsen said earthquakes are typical for this area near the border, which is basically the southern extension of the San Andreas Fault.
“South of the Salton Sea, the San Andreas tends to develop complex faults — many smaller faults — in several directions. It’s most likely related to this system,” said Olsen.
The area is known as the Brawley seismic zone, Olsen said. It’s not a “well-defined monster fault” like the San Andreas is, which ends at the Salton Sea.
Does that recent swarm mean a big quake is on the way? Olsen said we really can’t say for sure. But swarms tend to range from 2 to 5 magnitudes and tend to repeat. They’re not typically a prelude to a major quake.
That’s what happens when thousands of people run towards the USA border at the same time.