4.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits in California, Others Strike Nearby

Zachary Stieber
By Zachary Stieber
July 18, 2019US News
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4.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits in California, Others Strike Nearby
A 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit about 40 miles north of Ridgecrest, California late July 17, 2019. (USGS)

A 4.6 magnitude earthquake hit about 40 miles north of Ridgecrest, California late July 17.

The quake hit in the same region as the strong 6.4 and 7.1 magnitude quakes that struck on July 4 and July 5, inflicting damage to buildings and leaving cracks in the Earth.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Wednesday’s temblor struck 5.6 miles northeast of Coso Junction and about 12 miles north of Little Lake at a depth of 1.4 miles.

People reported feeling the quake near Selma, Fresno, and Bakersfield.

NTD Photo
A cluster of earthquakes struck the Ridgecrest, California area within 24 hours, including a 4.6 magnitude that struck on July 17, 2019. (USGS)

The quake was one of 70 quakes measuring 2.5 magnitude or higher that struck in the area across 24 hours, according to the survey. The second-strongest measured 3.9 magnitude and struck in the same area several hours prior.

That one hit 8.1 miles northeast of Coso Junction and 13 miles north-northeast from Little Lake.

According to CBS LA, thousands of aftershocks from the 7.1 magnitude quake have struck the area since July 5. The aftershocks “have been creeping into areas close to two major earthquake faults, a development that is generating interest and some concern among seismologists over whether it could trigger another huge temblor,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday.

“Those are places we would be more concerned,” U.S. Geological Survey research geophysicist Morgan Page told the Times. “Little earthquakes are telling us where big earthquakes are more likely.”

“We always worry when seismicity picks up very close to a major fault or if it’s at the end of a major fault—whether it’ll push it enough to start a major rupture,” Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson added.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist and chief scientist at the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science & Society, said on July 16 that “Ridgecrest will be having M4+ and maybe M5+ earthquakes for at least a couple more years.”

“We see the sequence producing fewer quakes, but it will be 1-3 years before you return to the background level you had before the M7.1,” she added.

After a magnitude 4.9 quake struck on July 12, she wrote: “Remember, we said that the relative number of large magnitude quakes is constant, and more M5s in the sequence would be normal. This morning’s M4.9 is normal and it’s having its own aftershocks.”

“I’ll repeat that this is still a normal aftershock sequence. Little clusters of M3s = normal. Gradual expansion of the zone is normal. Each aftershock is relieving stress in some places and redistributing it to others. It might grow a few more miles – or not. Random is normal,” she also wrote.

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