A swarm of earthquakes in Southern California has raised concerns about the potential for a major seismic event. The flurry of quakes struck on Saturday in the southern end of the Brawley Seismic Zone, a seismically active region where tectonic plates are moving apart.
According to seismologist Egill Hauksson from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), this stretching of the Earth's crust is 'basically adding land'. The zone connects the San Andreas fault with the Imperial fault, both capable of causing catastrophic earthquakes.
The swarm's most powerful tremor was a magnitude 3.9 quake near the town of Brawley. Hauksson warned that there was a chance a tremor of magnitude 5 or higher could be triggered, though the risk had largely diminished by Sunday night.
Quake swarms in the northern part of the Brawley Seismic Zone could trigger a major event on the San Andreas fault, potentially affecting Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Last September, a similar swarm led the US Geological Survey to warn of an increased chance of a magnitude 7 or higher quake.
