Host Dave Schlom is joined by Liliane Burkhard, a geophysicist and planetary scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, to discuss a recent study linking earthquakes on two of Southern California's major faults.
Dr. Burkhard was the lead author of a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth that examines paleoseismic data from the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults dating back a thousand years.
In it, the researchers found that the Cajon Pass, which funnels major transportation and infrastructure arteries just east of Los Angeles, has acted as a kind of "earthquake gate" in the past. At times, quakes on the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, which meet near the pass, are propagated through (as in the last "Big One" in the 1857 Fort Tejon temblor), and at times one fault triggers the other (1812 San Juan Capistrano quake).
What it all means is that the fault system in Southern California is definitely locked and loaded for the Big One, which is destined for sometime in the future!
