BIG ONE WARNING: California rainfall could trigger San Andreas fault earthquake
THE HEAVY rainfall hitting California could trigger massive earthquakes seismologists have warned.
By SEAN MARTIN
Express.co.uk
Wed, Mar 1, 2017
One of the world’s most dangerous fault lines, the San Andreas Fault, lies beneath California, and some experts are worried that the heavy rain California is currently experiencing could lead to massive earthquakes.
California is currently experiencing torrential rainfall which is 200 per cent higher than the average.
The US state has just suffered a prolonged drought, but areas affected by the drought have been reduced by 22 per cent in just a single week.
To add more cause for concern, experts now believe that the flash flooding could lead to catastrophic earthquakes.
In an article for the Conversation, Authors Professor of Geophysics Gillian Foulger, Jon Gluyas, Professor in Geoenergy, Carbon Capture and Storage, and Ph.D. Student in the Department of Earth Sciences Miles Wilson, all from Durham University, write: “Water pressure in the fault zone is important in controlling when a geological fault slips.
“Fault zones invariably contain groundwater, and if the pressure of this water increases, the fault may become ‘unclamped.’
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