“This is surprising, because we’ve never seen the Garlock fault do anything. What’s unusual now, Ross said, is that the Garlock fault has been seismically quiet in the historical record until now. Helping scientists have been state-of-the-art observations with incredible high-resolution details that haven’t been possible in any previous major California earthquake. Besides the Garlock fault, there is also reason to focus on risks from other nearby faults. Despite the uncertainty, what’s happening in this region bears close scrutiny, given how the Garlock fault is an important major fault for Southern California.

Source: Los Angeles Times October 17, 2019 18:39 UTC