Lifeline Corridor Crossing the San Andreas fault

This article appeared today and nicely explains the situation at Cajon Pass. A great San Andreas event with surface faulting through this and other lifeline corridor crossing points will potentially sever the links between the urban metropolitan area and the rest of the nation. Through the ShakeOut study, we see that the economic and social impacts of this are enormous. It is therefore crucial to plan for efficient repairs to these lifelines in the event of a real earthquake. ShakeOut is an opportunity for people to engage in such planning, and we have been working with the lifeline utilities operators to accomplish this and to encourage retrofitting and creative engineering solutions to make lifelines more resistant to earthquake damage.

http://www.highlandnews.net/articles/2008/10/16/news/04earthquake.txt

In the photo, a scarp along the San Andreas lies in shadow beneath my arm.

Cajon Pass - ShakeOut event

The Sun newspaper article on the San Andreas fault and ShakeOut scenario:

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_10674385

... and photos from yesterday's event at Cajon Pass:

http://sbsun.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge.asp?image=20727198&event=610560&CategoryID=25953

Fun with the Qfaults on-line database

Here is the main link to the Qfaults web site - start here:

• http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/qfaults/

Now, try going to this link, then typing in San Andreas as the fault name.

• http://gldims.cr.usgs.gov/webapps/cfusion/Sites/qfault/index.cfm

It should return more links, and for each of the 10 section you can then click to bring up various levels of detailed information about each fault section.

This is a very nice compilation of references by Bill Bryant and colleagues from the California Geological Survey, and a convenient way to look up published information.

Mud Pots - an extension of San Andreas fault?

Mud Pots Signal Possible Extension Of San Andreas Fault

ScienceDaily (2008-07-29) -- A linear string of mud pots and mud volcanoes suggest surface evidence for a southern extension of the San Andreas Fault that runs through the Salton Sea, according to a paper published in the August issue of the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

Nature article - Earthquake Prediction

Here is a BBC article on the recent Nature letter by Niu et al., which describes a new method and potential for earthquake prediction.

The article is entitled Preseismic velocity changes observed from active
source monitoring at the Parkfield SAFOD drill site and the authors claim to have detected anomalous velocities in rock prior to rupture in two small earthquakes near Parkfield, California the experimental site on the San Andreas fault. Here is the abstract.

In 1999, Nature moderated a fascinating debate on earthquake prediction that I encourage people to read as well as the latest findings.

San Diego Natural History Museum

Last Friday, after giving a talk on ShakeOut to a group called InfraGard at the San Diego Natural History Museum, I had the pleasure to try out the new display on the 2nd floor that allows visitors to make the fault move with their own hands! The offset at Wallace Creek can be manually cranked backwards and forwards to illustrate how the offset formed. Also, the classic collection of Shelton's aerial photos of the San Andreas and other points of geological fascination on the third floor were spectacular.

San Andreas - photos from airplanes & a helicopter!

Here are some photos of the San Andreas that I've taken from various aircraft (usually commercial planes, and recently a helicopter). Picassa allowed me to locate them on a map. Follow this link and try clicking 'view map' - then you can hit 'play' and it will take you on a slide show trip down the fault. There's also a link that allows you to download an HTML file that you can then view using Google Earth, etc. If there's interest I'll add captions later.