California has had 7,311 earthquakes in the last 365 days: did you feel any of them?

I never travel to – or through – the Bay Area without making sure I have a full tank of gas.

The reason is simple. It’s because of what happened at 5:04 PM on October 17, 1989 – the Loma Prieta earthquake.

My best friends at the time, Jack and Jill Vaughn, were having seats almost behind home plate in Candlestick Park waiting for Game 3 of the World Series to begin between the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s when a 6.9-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter shook 10 miles northeast of the Santa Cruz area. Gulf. Within 15 seconds, 63 people were killed, 3,757 injured, and $12.1 billion worth of damage occurred in today’s dollars.

The fact that the earthquake occurred during a World Championship that was entirely related to the Bay Area meant that traffic was lighter than normal. But as Oakland’s Nimitz Double Deck Highway was smashed and crushed to death 42 people were driving downstairs and part of the upper level of the Bay Bridge collapsed, all bridges across the bay were closed.

When the game was called off minutes later, their trip home to Pleasant Hill instead of 55 minutes turned into a 10-hour ordeal. They had to drive around the South Bay through San Jose to get home. It was mostly on sketchy streets where the highways were at a complete stop. Fortunately, they had enough gas that was given to power most gas stations.

Damage in Manteca — about 90 miles away — was limited to cracked patios and swimming pools. More than a few residents with swimming pools also reported water leaks.

I was 150 miles away at the time in Roseville working at The Press-Tribune which was two blocks from the “hump yard” in the Southern Pacific where freight trains are segregated and individual boxcars are laid out in a system of tracks and splines slightly to allow the box cars to be molded into a new train.

Everyone in the building was pretty sure that it was just a small cart that was rolling around with little but too much momentum causing a loud sound and shockwaves that lasted for probably 3 seconds. About 20 seconds later, thanks to someone who had a TV set that turned out to be the World Series, we realized it was an earthquake.

This was not the first major earthquake I had experienced. It was August 1, 1975 when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near the base of the Oroville Dam 48 miles from where I was at a Rotary meeting in a 1920s building I was taking a picture of in Lincoln, sending everyone to jog outside. It shook, lamps swayed, some dishes were shaken off the tables.

Earthquakes everywhere. It has been estimated that the New Madrid earthquake of 1812 was much more powerful at about 8.2 than the paltry 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake and was so powerful that it realigned parts of the Mississippi River and caused the river to flow backwards for many hours. Its largest aftershock was at 7.4, much stronger than the 1989 Bay Area quake. The Great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 measured between 7.7 and 7.9 on the Richter scale.

There are earthquakes every hour in California. But unless they go beyond 3.0 you won’t feel them. All smaller ones are detected by sensors.

At 7:59 p.m. on Dec. 12, there was an earthquake 1.2 miles below the surface 35 miles west of Manteca near Livermore according to the USGS.

As of that hour in California, there have been 26 earthquakes in the previous 24 hours, 271 in the previous 7 days, 663 in the previous 30 days, and 7,311 in the previous 365 days.

Those earthquakes that occur along the San Andreas Fault help move tectonic plates between 30 and 50 millimeters per year. At this rate, Los Angeles will be adjacent to San Francisco in 20 million years.

To see what the land looks like along the fault closest to Manteca, head south out of Manteca on Airport Road and you’ll eventually cross the San Joaquin River.

At this point, you also cross the closest earthquake fault to Manteca – the Vernales fault.

It begins near Dairy Road south of Highway 132 in Stanislaus County and eventually runs north paralleling Casson Road, passing Deuel Vocational Institute and Panta before ending near Old River northeast of Tracy.

According to the United States Geological Survey, this is the inferred location. That’s because although it ranks as one of the 500 most active faults in the state—California has 15,700 seismic faults—it didn’t warrant much attention or mapping due to its low level of seismic activity.

Active when it comes to earthquakes and volcanoes is a relative concept. The Long Valley Caldera has been identified as one of California’s most active volcanoes as well as its largest about 200 miles east of Manteca south of Highway 120 on the way to Benton – the last erupting 760,000 years ago. By comparison, Mount Lassen erupted in the northern state in 1917.

Fault lines for the most part have much shorter time periods between significant events. The San Andreas fault is at the high end of this scale and the Vernales fault is at the low end. This means that at Manteca, Lathrop, and Ripon, we will likely feel the shaking from the San Andreas earthquake 60 miles to the west more than once in our lifetimes, but never feel any movement from the Vernalis fault during the same time frame.

There are three other known shortcomings nearby. The Tracy-Stockton Fault which runs under Stockton had major earthquakes in 1881 and 1940. The epicenter of both earthquakes was in Linden. The 1940 event was 4.0 on the Richter scale. By comparison, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was recorded at 6.9 on the Richter scale.

Another nearby fault is the San Joaquin fault which runs along the base of the coastal ranges from East Newman to East Tracy. Then there is the Coral Hollow rift which was discovered by scientists in 1991. Few rifts are actually found in the Great Central Valley where the forces that make up California are found in the sierra volcanism and plate tectonics.

California is one of the most geologically diverse regions in the world, if not the most. Dozens of major tectonic plates have given us a wealth of geological variations as well as extremes. The highest point in the United States – Mount Whitney at 14,505 feet – is located just 75 miles from the lowest point in Badwater found 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley.

Geographical extremes also gave California a 12th microclimate score, far more than any other state. Because of that within the borders of California, you will find the largest living organism in the world (a sequoia tree that measures 52,508 square feet), the tallest organism in the world (a redwood tree measuring 379.9 feet tall) and one of the oldest organisms in the world (the Bristlecone pine). 4,145 years). You’ll also find the San Joaquin Valley, which grows one-eighth of the nation’s food.

The tectonic plates that keep moving against each other are the basic building blocks that have created the state’s dozens of microclimates.

Giving our bounty of living on some of the smallest properties on the planet is why I don’t worry too much about earthquakes.

I certainly might think a little differently if I were attending Cal Bear football games as Memorial Stadium in Berkeley is built on top of the very active Hayward Rift.

This column is the opinion of the editor, Dennis White, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be contacted at [email protected]

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