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Science

Newly Discovered Fault Under L.A. 231

Posted by michael from the here-i-sit-on-the-head-of-mount-tam dept.
Randolpho writes "Whether you like the city or not, you can't say Los Angeles doesn't have a fault. It does, and it's one of earth-shattering proportions. Geologists have confirmed that LA was built right over a faultline, which they're calling the Puente Hills Blind Thrust System; it runs from northern Orange County through Los Angeles on up to Beverly Hills, and has a habbit of ripping earthquakes as large as 7.5 on the Richter Scale every 10 thousand years or so. And the last one was about 8 thousand years ago."
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Newly Discovered Fault Under L.A. More

Newly Discovered Fault Under L.A.

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  • La has a Fault? (Score:5, Funny)

    by BuckaBooBob ( 635108 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:11PM (#5670058)
    naa! Can't be :).. I guess Insurance Companies earthquake Periums will go way up in about 1800 years or so.

    • A silly article (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Safety Cap ( 253500 )
      The only thing of note is that this puts to rest the thought that blind thrust faults cannot exist (which is kind of stupid, if you think about it).

      The article names one of the thousands of faults in the LA basin, and probably one or the 10 or so that could cause serious damage.

      The Newport-Inglewood fault is also another one that you don't hear about (for you Los Angelinos, it runs right under the 405 and up through Westwood - go Bruins!), but it has as much potential to cause damage as any other.

      What is in

      • Re:A silly article (Score:4, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:26PM (#5670431)
        >The only thing of note is that this puts to rest the thought that blind thrust faults cannot exist

        I don't think the existence of blind thrusts has ever been a question. Structural geologists have been quite aware of that type of structure for some time. Indeed, the question isn't even if blind thrusts are a seismic problem -- the Northridge earthquake in 1994 was on a blind thrust. The problem with blind thrusts is that there is no easy way to tell where they are, principally because (by definition) they don't "daylight" i.e. reach the surface. The cool thing about this study is that paleosiesmologists have documented a previoiusly-unknonwn blind thrust fault in an urban area (a major seismic hazard) using well data and geophysics. Not only that, but they mananged to place constraints on it's prior movement history and its recurrence interval. A nice piece of important work.
        • > A nice piece of important work

          Which, of course, everyone in LA will ignore until one or more of the local faults cooks off and levels an apartment building.

          Then the entire city will go nuts and Phoenix will have another building boom.

          Which means I can't just invest in real estate now, because it won't be worth anything until the day the quake happens. And then, I won't be able to find any for cheap.

          If Californians weren't so stupid, I could be spending the next year getting rich.

          • Re:A silly article (Score:3, Informative)

            by edhall ( 10025 )

            Actually, LA takes as many seismic precautions than any other metropolis in the world (probably equalled only by Tokyo). Evidence of this is that the only apartment building to actually collapse in the Northridge 'quake had serious code problems. Scores more were rendered uninhabitable, but among apartment buildings only the Northridge Meadows complex pancaked; it was later discovered that it had been built without some of the required reinforcing between floors. Most of the rest of the country has no such

      • Re:A silly article (Score:4, Informative)

        by Iguanaphobic ( 31670 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:41PM (#5670518)
        It could be worse: it could be Seattle (an earthquate caused by Juan de Fuca plate movement could cause a Tsunami AND erupt that little ol' volcano they have just outside the city).

        Not to mention the potential strength of the next "Big One" in the Seattle/Vancouver area. 8 Million people, suddenly swimming...

        The Cascadia Megathrust [washington.edu] Event is due.

      • >>it could be Seattle (an earthquate caused by Juan de Fuca plate movement could cause a Tsunami AND erupt that little ol' volcano they have just outside the city). Do'o.

        Would this take out Redmond too? Oh baby!
      • Don't worry, we'll just get Superman to fly around the planet, reverse time, and go after the other cruise missile.

  • I sure picked a fine time to move to LA (Score:5, Funny)

    by anonymous loser ( 58627 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:11PM (#5670060)
    I just got here, and now you're telling me I'm due for a huge earthquake?

    Well, I suppose on the bright side, if it's true I might be able to afford buying that house after all.

  • I live near LA (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And all I can say is Scum City couldn't care less...how could you when you're too busy shooting wi' your homies and pimpin' the ho's

  • Name already taken? (Score:5, Funny)

    by worst_name_ever ( 633374 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:13PM (#5670075)
    LA was built right over a faultline, which they're calling the Puente Hills Blind Thrust System

    And to think, all this time I thought that was how Hollywood executives mate...

  • Nice to know, but not a whole lot that can be done about it other than move somewhere else. I suppose you can build better and safer structures but when a big enough quake occurs nothing will help. I'd be more worried about offshore, undersea quakes.

  • New fault (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:13PM (#5670080)
    So in a way, you could say this is a continental segmentation fault?

    8-)

  • wow! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And to think that I thought all that rumbling was just the automatic gunfire from the local crips and bloods who maintain our number #1 status quo worldwide...
    You learn something new everyday!

  • God damn it! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ciel ( 622360 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:15PM (#5670094)
    ...so you mean to say that we may have 2,000 years left to wait?

    Argh!

    The wheels of justice turn slowly indeed...

  • What to do? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:15PM (#5670099)
    I'm not American, but as I understand your legal system, the correct thing to do is sue the scientists, right?

  • When You Re-post This Story in 2000 Years (Score:3, Funny)

    by n3rd ( 111397 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:16PM (#5670104)
    I'm sure you'll be hearing cries of "dupe, dupe!".
  • I live in LA city, and there hasn't been an EAWRHTTOIHEOIUOIQWOHE HELP HE

  • Horror storys! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Neophytus ( 642863 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:19PM (#5670120)
    We are always told every few months the earth is overdue a major earthquake, eruption, ice collapse, comet or other worldwide catastrophy. If it happens it will happen, but for now I'm happy where I am away from any of them.

    • Re:Horror storys! (Score:5, Funny)

      by big_groo ( 237634 ) <groovis.gmail@com> on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:04PM (#5670337) Homepage
      We are always told every few months the earth is overdue a major earthquake, eruption, ice collapse, comet or other worldwide catastrophy. If it happens it will happen, but for now I'm happy where I am away from any of them.

      And you exactly are ... where?

      • We are always told every few months the earth is overdue a major earthquake, eruption, ice collapse, comet or other worldwide catastrophy. If it happens it will happen, but for now I'm happy where I am away from any of them.

        And you exactly are ... where?

        In his mother's basement. Of course, to be safe from a nuclear blast, he'd still have to clasp his hands behind his head.

        (apologies to those who didn't grow up in the US during cold-war hysteria and don't get it)

    • Don't worry, I am sure some Televangelist can convince God to move the PHBT fault to your neck of the woods. =^_^=
  • So what you're telling me is that the next earthquake has a possiblity of knocking out all of the Valley girls. . .hmmm I'm all for this fault ;)
  • Come on, I thought nerds would at least get something like this before Leno!?! But no, it was in his monoloug last night.
  • ....and mention the obvious jokes that'll refer
    to "seg faults"
  • Oh no! I hope no tennis courts or olympic-sized swimming pools get damaged when the next big one hits!
  • "it runs from northern Orange County through Los Angeles on up to Beverly Hills, and has a habbit of ripping earthquakes as large as 7.5 on the Richter Scale every 10 thousand years or so. And the last one was about 8 thousand years ago." Sounds to me like the making of the next really bad disaster movie.

  • Hollywood (Score:4, Funny)

    by huhmz ( 216967 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:21PM (#5670140)
    I can see a Jerry Bruckheimer production coming
  • I live in Puente Hills area and I don't think it matters WHERE you live in Southern CA, it will still be bad when a major quake hits.

    My friend, who is interested in earthquakes as a hobby, told me that this story has technical errors. Does anyone else agree?

    • Re:Technical errors? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by dacarr ( 562277 )
      You know, I do concur - the path described is similar to the Whittier narrows fault, which runs through Chino Hills and Yorba Linda on its way to LA. Perhaps they're seeing offshoots of WN?
  • Time to move to Afghanistan. :rolleyes:

  • You know you've spent too much time online... (Score:5, Funny)

    by GQuon ( 643387 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:30PM (#5670180) Journal
    ..when you read
    Geologists have confirmed that LA was built right over a faultline

    as

    Googlists have confirmed that LA was built right over a faultline

    and thinking

    "What? People can make scientific discoveries by searching the internet?"

    I have to go lie down now.
  • I've always heard stories about California falling off into the ocean at some point. Could LA be at fault for this catastrophe?



    *wanders back to his east coast cave*

  • Who is to blame? (Score:5, Funny)

    by paranoos ( 612285 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:34PM (#5670206)
    I blame Los Angeles. It's their own fault, after all.

  • Puente Hills has a mall that was shown in BTTF... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by antdude ( 79039 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:40PM (#5670233) Homepage Journal
    FYI. The Twin Pines Mall (name replaced Puente Hills Mall), in the first movie of Back to the Future [bttf.com] Trilogy, is located in this area.

    You can see photographs and information here [bigwaste.com] and here [angelfire.com].
    • Yeah, interestingly enough I was wondering about exactly that the other day... I am planning a road trip through California (all the way from Florida), and noticed that there is a city named "Lone Pine" in California... All I could think of was the "Lone Pine Mall" and old man Peabody screaming "My pines!" from Back to the Future.

      So, you've answered a burning question of mine that I never knew who to ask. Thanks!
  • Puente Hills Blind Thrust System ...tonight only at the Hep-Cat Club!

  • From the article (Score:4, Funny)

    by Vinnie_333 ( 575483 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:44PM (#5670260)
    "Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do." Of course, by that logic:

    Sharks don't kill people, looking like a seal does.

    Explosions don't kill people, debris does.

    Knives don't kill people, a thrusting motion does.

  • Link [cnn.com]: A recently mapped, still-active fault line that snakes beneath downtown Los Angeles is capable of generating major earthquakes, but only about once every 2,000 years, according to a new study.

    "If you had to design the worst place to put a fault in Los Angeles, Puente Hills is it," Dolan said.

  • A better more technical article (Score:4, Informative)

    by Tycho ( 11893 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @05:48PM (#5670277)
    CNN has an article on this new fault that is slightly less confusing. You can find it here. [cnn.com]
  • You know, by the description here, it sounds like its running exactly under I-405, the Santa Monica freeway, which is already one of the biggest faults LA's ever had...
  • California outlaws the Shake and the Swing, following intense lobbying by Donald Rumsfeld and his "dancing-is-sinful" raving chums.

  • Youth Brigade had it right... (Score:3)

    by TheSHAD0W ( 258774 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:12PM (#5670369) Homepage

    And we'll sink with Californiaaa, when it falls into the seaaaaaaaaa...
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • This is silly (Score:5, Informative)

    by mbone ( 558574 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:24PM (#5670421)
    This is silly - if not FUD for grant money.

    The LA basin is about 1 to 30 kilometers of rubble on top of a very active basement of solid rock which is riddled with active faults like a piece of dropped china is riddled with cracks. All of the rubble (alluvium) makes it hard to see active faults as they are buried deep.

    Basically every big earthquake that LA has experienced (with the exception of the large one the San Andreas fault in the 1840's) has been on a previously unknown fault.

    So, earthquakes happen, but our ability to tell exactly where they will be is near nil.

  • I found out about this story on news.google.com

    Slashdot's report was the highest ranked one - above National Geographic, and the Los Angeles Daily.

    In the "honorable mention" category were CNN and NBC.

    If only I could see the faces of the editors for those news agencies when they saw that...

  • Book on LA and Earthquakes (Score:3, Informative)

    by wdavies ( 163941 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:29PM (#5670447) Homepage
    Mike Davis's book, Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster,is a pretty good liberal read about LA and its various geological and meteorological issues. You might also check out his City of Quartz as well if you really hate the place :-)

    Amazon associate link $11.20 [amazon.com]


    Amazon, no associate link
    $11.20 [amazon.com]

    (Barnes and Noble, no affiliate link)
    $12.60 [barnesandnoble.com]

    Winton
  • other areas far from the west coast in the U.S. have been rated for being in danger of a severe quake....even parts of my home state of Illinois [niu.edu], about every 500 years or so [ezboard.com]
  • Now my ruthless plan to buy the land around Los Angeles, and blow up the fault line so that Los Angeles has a massive earthquake and falls into the ocean can finally succeed!

    Then all the rich saps living in Los Angeles will have nowhere to go except another city...MY city - Lutherville. It won't be long before I own their sorry butts! And no one can stop me!

  • Life imitates "art" (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Fjord ( 99230 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @06:54PM (#5670573) Homepage Journal

    Like or hate hollywood megamovies, Volcano [imdb.com] was based on the premis of an undiscovered fault line having a molten eruption. Very good insight on what actually could happen given this (but still a movie). Plus it has Tommy Lee Jones.
    • Yeah. Good insight.

      Uh-huh.

      They confuse a tar pit with volcanic activity.

      They represent a fallen glass and steel building as a good deflector for flowing lava.

      And they didn't even get the geography of LA right.

      Whoever did the science research and fact-checking for that film had an undergraduate degree in medieval poetry or something, but certainly not geology.

      Might as well watch Star Trek to learn about quantum theory.

  • Well... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by meme_police ( 645420 )
    ...since we seem to have significant earthquakes every decade here in SoCal I'm not too concerned about a 7.5 in the next 2 millenia.
  • These are maps showing magnitude, fault, date, and so on. You can also view "shakemaps" and other cool stuff.

    NEIC real-time list [usgs.gov]

    Los Angeles area [usgs.gov] seismicity map

    U.S. [usgs.gov] seismicity map

    World [usgs.gov] seismicity map

  • Whittier fault? (Score:3, Informative)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @07:39PM (#5670796)
    I heard exactly this same sort of story when I was living in downtown LA and the Whittier Quake happened (6.1 on the Richter scale IIRC). I wonder when that was, hmm.. must've been around 85 or 86? They said the Whittier Fault had the same potential to liquify the downtown subsoil. When it hit, I was in an unreinforced brick building just a couple of miles from the epicenter, I couldn't believe how much the ceiling beams shook, I thought the building was about to collapse. But anyway, I wonder just what is the big picture, there are a other newly discovered faults like the Whittier fault right through the downtown area, that's probably how that area originally became the flatter LA basin area, due to the repeated liquefaction of soil during quakes and subsequent resettling.
  • So what you're saying is that we've got 2000 years until the next "big one". Time to invest in some porcelain!
  • Hail to the King baby!

    Ahhh, that was always my fav. level in Duke3D! Now if only I could get the game to build properly ...
  • I see the price of boats in that area going up soon.
  • >Geologists have confirmed that LA was built right over a faultline,

    Looking on the bright side, that's better than having LA built wrongly over a faultline,
  • So when Los Angeles gets shaken to pieces, will it make a "PHBTS" sound? (Phbts! Insert flatulence joke here).

  • Arizona Bay (Score:2, Funny)

    by jonathonc ( 267596 )
    In other news today the Big One hit LA creating a new resort called 'Arizona Bay'. Nobody was missed.

    • Re:Arizona Bay (Score:3, Funny)

      by ChadN ( 21033 )
      TOOL LYRICS
      "Aenima" - abbreviated

      I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied...

      Learn to swim.
      Learn to swim.
      Learn to swim.
      Learn to swim.

  • Geologists have it easy... (Score:4, Funny)

    by maunleon ( 172815 ) on Saturday April 05, 2003 @10:49PM (#5671545)
    How many other professions allow you to make a prediction with 2000+ years as error margin?

    I predict that within 2000 years, pigs will fly. Give me a grant. I promise to pay back all the money if I'm proven wrong.

  • Fill it with Silicone!
  • To quote the song Ænema by TOOL:
    "Cuz I'm praying for rain
    And I'm praying for tidal waves
    I wanna see the ground give way.
    The only way to fix it is to flush it all away...Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.."
  • Okay, can someone build me a cryogenic suspension system, so I can freeze myself? That way when they have the technology to revive me in 2000 years, I can actually panic properly.
  • Why do I always hear "This earthquake (or another) strikes every 1000 years". Earthquakes are not that predictable. So, no, the eathquake will not be there in 2000 years, it could be thera ANYTIME. No one in history has ever predicted an earthquake with a sufficient notice. I wonder when they will let go of the old geologists fantasy of "earthquake prediction".
  • "and has a habbit of ripping earthquakes.."

    habbit? Is that like a hobbit with a habit?

    • Re:Huh? (Score:2)

      by GiMP ( 10923 )
      It is the love-child of a coney (rabbit) and a hobbit.. although considering how much hobbits enjoy eatting rabbit, I'd doubt that such a thing would occur.

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