SCI/TECH: 6.0 Mag Earthquake Rocks CA, Peterson Trial Recessed

A 6.0 earthquake shook Parkfield, California this morning while people as far a way as San Francisco felt the tremors. The final measuring of the earthquake was recorded as a 5.9.


This moderate earthquake follows December of 2003 deadly earthquake in California. So far there is no damage or casualties being reported in this particular earthquake, but many aftershocks, and some as strong as 5.0, are still being felt.

Ron Alsop, an emergency services coordinator for San Luis Obispo County states that the tremors lasted between 20-25 seconds. Earthquakes in the Parkfield area of the San Andreas fault are normal and recorded in fairly regular periods. No immediate reports of damage or casualties have been reported due to the earthquake. 5.0 and a 4.1 aftershocks have been recorded. The Scott Peterson trial was delayed to due the quakes.


Related News Links:
www.cbsnews.com
earthquake.usgs.gov


[edit on 28-9-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

[edit on 28-9-2004 by WuvLove]

[edit on 28-9-2004 by Nerdling]

[edit on 29-9-2004 by Nerdling]

This seems too far away to be Mt. Saint Helens related right?

I believe so Quicksilver.

This is unsettling though, theres alot of smaller quakes after the large one.

Here's a thread that's been discussing it for the past hour:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


edit: It looks like it has been upgraded to a 6.0.





[edit on 9/28/2004 by Tanin]

Thanks for fixing that for me nerdling. Very interesting stuff going on with the earthquakes lately.

Originally posted by WuvLove
Thanks for fixing that for me nerdling. Very interesting stuff going on with the earthquakes lately.

No problem. The USGS weren't exactly being helpful to classifying it. They had it listed as "last hour" for a while then changed it over.

Still, there's alot of shaking in that small area. Would be good if you could turn this into a full article?

I just heard that there have been 72 aftershocks. No word of casualties yet.

I experienced a "tremor" at Camp Pendleton in 1968 while on mess duty. It was between meals and the mess deck was cleared. I swear the the deck was undulating. I saw a documentary some years ago that said that the undulation is a physical impossiblity, even though such reports date to antiquity.

[edit on 04/9/28 by GradyPhilpott]

Techie Details....

Magnitude 6.0 - local magnitude (ML)
Time Tuesday, September 28, 2004 at 10:15:24 AM (PDT)
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 at 17:15:24 (UTC)
Distance from Shandon, CA - 14 km (9 miles) NNW (336 degrees)
Parkfield, CA - 14 km (9 miles) S (185 degrees)
San Miguel, CA - 23 km (14 miles) E (83 degrees)
Paso Robles, CA - 27 km (17 miles) NE (52 degrees)
San Jose City Hall, CA - 217 km (135 miles) SE (143 degrees)


The fault seems to be moving.

I live in Palo Alto, about 7 miles south of Redwood City where the Peterson Trial is being held, and we did not feel a thing. Huh. In regards to the St. Helens connection, we are all a great big part of the "ring of fire" that covers both sides of the Pacific.

Not to downplay things but a short duration 6.0 does not worry most people around here. Duration and depth play a big part of it. A sustained 6.o would do some damage. A 7.0 which is 100X stronger would start taking some things down.

Mt. St. Helens and the California faults are entirely unrelated

Originally posted by Nerdling
alot of smaller quakes

But that is what is supposed to happen.

The fault seems to be moving

You mean the epicenters of the aftershocks is moving right? Thats not necessarily unexpected. But, of course, the fault -is- moving. Actually technically, at least the san andreas fault is made up of dozens of smaller faults.

USGS source page

Above is a small illustration showing the relevant plates. At this resolution the SAF acts like one big 'ol fault, but at finer resolution it surprisingly turned out to be many many smaller faults, some with bizzare relative motions

Looking at the USGS page listing activity for the region there continues to be extensive activity in the Parkfield area, including a 5.0 aftershock.

This certainly is not over. The general area of the fault is a real concern to me.

More Earthquakes in Central California today

Magnitude 5.0 - CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
2004 September 29 22:54:54 UTC

earthquake.usgs.gov

Here's the latest map of Central California earthquake activity.