3 interesting facts about earthquakes in California

Earthquakes are part of life in California. If you’ve lived in the Golden State for any extended period of time, you’ve likely encountered several of them.

As part of the Ring of Fire, the most seismically active region in the world, the ground in California is constantly changing. People live with the possibility of hitting “The Big One” at any time, which is why billions of dollars have been spent over decades to improve infrastructure and make buildings more earthquake-resistant.

Here are three surprising facts about California earthquakes.

1. California has been hit by a potential 9.0 magnitude earthquake

Evidently, there were no seismometers or recordings of any kind in the year 1700. However, on the evening of January 26, 1700, Northern California and the entire Pacific Northwest were rocked by one of the most powerful earthquakes in history—it’s believed to have been around 9.0 magnitude. .

How do we know this? Japan has been tracking tsunamis at least since 684 AD and the earthquake that hit northern California, known as the Cascadia earthquake, triggered tsunamis that inundated villages in Japan and also caused massive damage along the Pacific coast of North America.

“We can work backwards from when the tsunami hit Japan to determine when the earthquake occurred,” the USGS explains.

The exact epicenter of the Cascadia earthquake is still unknown. The USGS believes that it occurred offshore between Cape Mendocino and Canada.

City ruins after the earthquake and fire of 1906, San Francisco, California. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

2. The ground is constantly shaking

The USGS records approximately 10,000 earthquakes in Southern California each year or about 27 earthquakes per day.

Most of them are so small that they go unnoticed. Only several hundred earthquakes register a magnitude of 3.0 or greater, and only 15 to 20 of them reach a magnitude of 4.0 on the Richter scale.

California typically experiences two to three earthquakes strong enough to cause moderate damage each year, according to the state Department of Conservation.

3. The San Andreas error is not a single error

No discussion of earthquakes in California is complete without addressing the San Andreas Fault. But even this term is somewhat of a misnomer.

According to the USGS, the San Andreas Fault is not an isolated fault, but rather an 800-mile-long “rift zone” made up of many segments.

The average rate of movement along the San Andreas fault zone over the past 3 million years is about 2 inches per year, about the same rate as your fingernails grow.

“Assuming this rate continues, scientists predict that Los Angeles and San Francisco will be contiguous in about 15 million years,” says the USGS.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include some details about the crashes and earthquakes.

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