California rocked by ANOTHER huge earthquake amid fears 'BIG ONE' is IMMINENT
A HUGE 5.8 magnitude earthquake has rocked the coast California, in the US following several tremors in the region earlier that day, mounting fears that the ‘big one’ is imminent.
USGS
Earlier scientists warned that California is around 10 years overdue for a major earthquake – dubbed the ‘big one’.
This latest quake struck 107 miles (173km) west of Ferndale which is just north of San Fransisco in California.
The earthquake was followed by an aftershock of magnitude 5.0.
Earlier on Thursday California was rocked by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake near Trabuco Canyon, between Los Angeles and San Diego.
California is located on the Ring of Fire, a hotspot for seismic activity and earthquakes, which runs around the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists continue to fear that the US West Coast is getting to be hit by a major earthquake – dubbed the “big one”.
A powerful earthquake in 1857 released some of the pressure in fault lines running beneath California, but much more still exists, and Robert Graves, a research geophysicist at USGS, suggests the ‘Big One’ could be overdue by 10 years.
Beneath California, the Pacific and North American tectonic plates are moving northward – although the former is moving quicker leading to a build up of tension.
Mr Graves said: "The San Andreas fault in southern California last had a major quake in 1857 (magnitude 7.9).
"Studies that have dated previous major offsets along the fault trace show that there have been about 10 major quakes over the past 1,000-2,000 years… the average time between these quakes is about 100-150 years.”
