Well, It's About Time!

Study: San Andreas fault overdue for quake

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Wed

LOS ANGELES - New earthquake research confirms the southern end of the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles is overdue for a Big One. The lower section of the fault has not produced a major earthquake in more than three centuries.

The new study, which analyzed 20 years of data and is considered one of the most detailed analyses yet, found that stress has been building up since then, and that the fault could rupture at any moment.

"The southern section of the fault is fully loaded for the next big event," said geophysicist Yuri Fialko of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.

Predicting exactly when that might happen, however, is beyond scientists' ability.

The analysis was published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Experts have estimated that a quake on the southern San Andreas of magnitude-7.6 or greater could kill thousands of people in the densely populated greater Los Angeles area and cause tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Today, I've got a 10 miler on tap with Al K. This lame has been dogging it lately (he's getting married soon and has been spending his free time tasting cake, choosing music, looking at china patterns, and, in general, being a total slack off) so I'm heading east to kick his ass a bit.

In other news, Moveitfred has been displeased with my stroke work (all these years of practice!)so we've begun discussing Al B. (ever so) Hard building a fixie. More on this as it progresses. More Fixie.