It's Palos Verdes Fault
Since moving to California in July, 2000 I have been waiting patiently for an earthquake. Lee grew up in San Francisco and said that I might not be so happy when it happened.
Meanwhile, I read up on faults and quakes and wrote my Los Serenos docent research paper on Palos Verdes Geomorphology. I learned that the local Palos Verdes Fault is a baby compared to the San Andreas Fault.
Fault ----------San Andreas----Palos Verdes
Length-------------740 miles----------60 miles
Slip Rate----------2 inch/year--------0.1 inch/year
M7 time frame----15 years-----------1000 years
The PV Fault runs South of and parallel to Pacific Coast Highway across the PV Peninsula, then South toward San Pedro and under the Vincent Thomas Bridge and North in Santa Monica Bay past Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach.
The Pacific Plate is moving North along the San Andreas Fault at a rate of 2 inch/year, while the PV Peninsula is moving toward Redondo Beach at a much slower rate of 0.1 inch/year. The San Andreas is capable of a very large earthquake (M7 = 5,000,000 tons TNT) every 15 years while the chance of such a quake occurring on the Palos Verdes Fault is only 0.001 per year. Still, it could happen.
On March 22 at 4:07PM, I was sitting right here blogging away when I heard a loud thunder clap and felt like something large slammed against the house. I was startled but then thought wow, my first earthquake. I later went online to the Southern California Earthquake Center and discovered that it was Palos Verdes’ fault.
== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==
Southern California Seismic Network: a cooperative project ofU.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena CaliforniaCaltech Seismological Laboratory, Pasadena, California
A minor earthquake occurred at 4:07:06 PM (PST) on Tuesday, March 22, 2005.The magnitude 3.4 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) W of Manhattan Beach, CA.The hypocentral depth is 12 km ( 7 miles).
The next day the quake was reported in the newspapers.
"Yes, That was an earthquake"
No, it wasn't thunder. The magnitude 3.4 temblor, probably associated with the Palos Verdes Fault, hit the area with a sharp punch about 4 p.m.
By Josh Grossberg, Daily Breeze
Well, it may have been a tiny one, but it was my first and it was due to our own Palos Verdes Fault. Cool indeed.
posted by Bill Lama at
2:07 PM
6 Comments:
LOL when my family was looking for houses in PV around 3 years ago, my mom and I fell in love with this one house. My dad, who is a structural engineer, was like "ABSOLUTELY NOT" since he realized that the fault you are talking about was right in the back yard of this house! Still, it was a rather nice one.
During our 25 years in PV, I can't rememeber an earthquake on the PV fault (although I recall one with and epicenter off Manhattan Beach which sounds like what you experienced). The fault name which kept coming up was the Inglewood fault. Mostly it is my understanding that PV being mostly rock is relatively unaffected by earthquake activity. The big ones in Northridge were noticable enough to strike fear but not serious enough to cause damage. Didn't realize you were a relative newby.
Christina, your dad is smart. Our friends Chris and Peta live in the horsey area just North of PV Drive North, right on top of the PV Fault. I couldn't help but kid them when I found that out in my research. "So Chris, How's life on the fault?"
Ralph, the PV fault has earthquakes every day but they are too small to feel. They are recorded and listed at the SCEC web site. The fault goes out to sea at RAT beach and heads North past Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo.
You are right that the Newport-Inglewood fault that runs parallel to the PV fault is much more dangerous. It caused the devastation in Long Beach in 1933. Palos Verdes is much safer than the LA Basin as you said. The only relatively unsafe areas in PV are where thay have landslides, such as Portugese Bend.
I am so lucky to have found Palos Verdes just before I retired in 2001.
You are right. PV is a gem. Unfortunately, living there requires iteraction with 20 million southern Californians if you want to go anywhere else.
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