But in the new dataset, the researchers found that the aftershocks actually extended nearly twice as far, lighting up seismographs across Southern California some miles from the earthquake epicenter. These earthquakes are also important for mapping faults in three dimensions throughout the region. For instance, the tiny quakes along the Coyote Creek fault revealed that, although the fault may seem linear at the surface, it's actually curved at depth. Understanding such intricacies of the fractures deep inside Earth helps scientists construct more realistic models of their movements and links to other nearby faults.
The work does have its limits. For one, template matching requires a large enough catalog of past earthquakes in any given region. Lava spews out of a fissure in the Virunga mountains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Virunga chain is part of the East African Rift Valley system, which marks the boundary between two plates: the Nubian plate to the west and the Somalian plate to the east.
The rift valley is a classic example of a divergent plate boundary. It's a problem for using the method on the San Andreas fault , a fracture that runs nearly the length of California and poses some of the greatest geologic hazards to the region.
Large sections don't host such small earthquakes. For areas like the U. Midwest, van der Lee says, template matching is also a challenge since earthquake monitoring is scarce and quakes are relatively infrequent. Without past quake templates, many true earthquake signals are left out of the data. Even so, she notes, some of these rumbles may have similar features to known quakes.
She likens these signals to identical twins and their other siblings. The identical twins are the signals included in this new catalog, but they will still have things in common with their other siblings, which means it might be possible to figure out how to include those siblings in the data.
One solution to the lack of templates, Ross says, will likely be the use of artificial intelligence, which has already started to transform many scientific disciplines, from our understanding of biological life to the search for other worlds. Until then, however, this new coterie of quakes is plenty to keep scientists busy.
All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. The ShakeAlert system, which was available to download in January , was created by teams from several universities and could help save lives in the event of a quake. It uses sensors placed around major towns and cities to detect tremors before they reach urban centres, giving time for an alert to be sent out to the population before the quake arrives.
On Twitter it states: "A ShakeAlert is an early warning from a system that detects significant earthquakes so quickly that alerts can reach many people before shaking arrives.
They say a major earthquake will soon strike which could cause widespread devastation, particularly in southern California. Jump directly to the content. Inside California ethnic studies classes. The 27 coolest made-in-L. All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. To prepare for the Big One, it will help to know exactly what an earthquake is.
By Madalyn Amato. What is an earthquake? California Lucy Jones says this is the most important thing you can do to prepare for a quake. California Welcome to Unshaken: Are you ready for a big earthquake? Madalyn Amato. Follow Us twitter instagram email facebook linkedin.
Subscribers Are Reading. The Santa Clara Valley south of San Francisco holds a fault prone to oblique motions , for example, seen in a quake. It really takes the movement of crustal plates to uncork a massive earthquake, such as the magnitude 9. But humanity has figured out ways to trigger small quakes as well.
Temblors can be triggered by pumping wastewater onto faults in deep disposal wells, as seen in quakes that occurred in Oklahoma, Texas, and Ohio in recent years. And Seattle Seahawks football fans have gained their own notoriety during a NFL Superbowl-winning playoff run this year, triggering " Beast Quakes " detected by seismologists across the Pacific Northwest. The height of their seismic activity in one game came during a touchdown run. Correction: The original story misplaced the focal center of the earthquake, which was 10 miles underneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
Follow Dan Vergano on Twitter. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets. India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country.
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