“It was probably the scariest earthquake I’d ever felt,” said Timothy Plattner, a witness of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. “[I] felt a lot of earthquakes, [as I] grew up in California. It was really loud, and I was sleeping at the time. So it was really loud and really jerky, very sharp jerks. The very first thing that I did was wake up, realize what was going on, and roll off the bed onto the floor underneath the bed because I thought that the bed would be a safe place to be under. These dorm beds were pretty strong, institutionalized style. [I remember that] it was really long. We’ve seen earthquakes here for the last couple of weeks, and it’s 2 or 3 seconds. This one lasted for some time [that I couldn’t quantify]. Felt like 30, 45 seconds, a quick estimate. And part of it was the loudness. The sound was so loud, and on top of that, it was 4 am, [so combine all this], and so it was like I had totally no idea [what was happening] the split second I woke up.”
Earthquakes are a fact of life in California. They, as most people know, tend to originate from the San Andreas fault that splits the state in half. That fault, the border between the Pacific plate and the North American plate, is a part of the larger Ring of Fire. It is classified as a Right-Lateral Strike-Slip fault, which means that the earth moves horizontally to the right. The San Andreas fault is not the only cause of earthquakes here, as splinter faults shape the geology around us. In the Bay Area, there are at least 7 major fault systems, including the San Andreas. First, the Hayward fault, famously known as the most dangerous behind the San Andreas, runs parallel to the bay through cities such as Oakland, Berkeley, and the eponymous Hayward. This fault continues in the North Bay as the Rodgers Creek fault, number 3. Fourth, the Calaveras fault extends from the Hollister/Gilroy area to Danville, where it terminates, and will be the main fault line analyzed in this article. The rest are: the Concord-Green Valley-Coloyami system (5), the San Gregorio fault on the coast (6), and finally, the Clayton-Marsh Creek-Greenville fault (7).
These faults all present major concerns for the 100+ cities in the Bay Area and the rest of California, and have been studied extensively. At the University of California, Berkeley, a major lab is dedicated to the study of earthquakes and the technology made to detect and warn cities close by. Project Scientist Angela Lux was kind enough to speak with the Stampede.
“We have a network that we monitor in Northern California. We have our field operations team who monitor, take care of those stations, and fix them when they break and install new ones. Then we have researchers who are working on more fundamental research questions, such as the researcher who was looking at the [San Ramon] earthquakes and trying to understand what processes were happening there.”
Lux works with Shake Alert and the United States Geological Survey (the main geology agency in the United States) to effectively create a system that both detects and sends alarms to residents in the immediate vicinity.
“I lead the development of one of the [three] Earthquake Early Warning algorithms that is a part of the USGS ShakeAlert earthquake early warning systems. We have the EEW system that’s being developed. We have the MyShake app that’s being developed, which delivers the messages from ShakeAlert, and that’s only one of the ways people can be notified of an earthquake in the areas we work in.”
Lux’s work is incredibly important for tracking and monitoring earthquakes, and her work, along with many others in her field of study, is instrumental for the safety of millions in the Bay Area. A main topic of focus as of this point is the Calaveras fault, a smaller, less powerful area than the major Hayward fault. The earthquake swarm from the Calaveras (commonly known as the San Ramon swarm) is quite beneficial for residents of the Bay because it releases pressure in smaller bursts. This does not get rid of the possibility of a major earthquake, though it lessens that possibility.
“A Magnitude 3 is going to be 30 times bigger than a Magnitude 2, and a Magnitude 4 is going to be 30 times bigger than a Magnitude 3. We would have to have thousands and thousands of Magnitude 4s to relieve the stress of a Magnitude 6,” Lux said. She also mentioned that the Calaveras swarm is caused by a phenomenon called fluid migration, which is the movement of fluids through rock that releases pressure and triggers earthquakes.
Regarding Lux’s point, all the earthquakes combined would release the same amount of pressure as around a 4.5, but even with this relatively small magnitude, the sheer number of earthquakes has been nothing short of awesome. According to earthquaketrack.com, there have been a total of 103 earthquakes in the last 30 days (since February 2nd) and an astounding 723 in the last year. Remember, that number will almost certainly go up by the time of printing (2/25). What makes this number even more outlandish is that on one of the highest days of frequency, which also happened to be February 2nd, there were an astonishing 20 earthquakes in 3 hours.
“I don’t really know [the number] cause there were so many, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more than 6,” said senior Timothy De Ramos when speaking about a group of earthquakes in December. When told the real number on that day, he said, “Yeah, okay, at least 6 then. I felt at least 6 major ones that did something to my house.” De Ramos also gave his description of one of the earthquakes, saying: “At first, I felt an initial shake, and then shortly after, it was a stronger shake. It wasn’t strong enough to cause any issues. It just sounded like a really loud noise, and I saw a lot of my stuff shaking momentarily. I remember hearing my mom had an electric clock fall off the table.”
California, the Golden State, with its warm, sunny beaches and snowy mountain tops, is one of the best places to live in the US. But underneath its resplendent exterior, the state reminds us of the realities of living in a geologically active area. The best way to get ready for an earthquake is to talk to local officials and prepare for the worst-case scenario. Take it from Lux at Berkeley: “When somebody’s at school, and somebody’s at work, and the earthquake happens, and the cell phone networks go down, do you have a plan for what your family is going to do?”
