Stress triggering of the 1994 M = 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake by its predecessors

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Abstract

A model of stress transfer implies that earthquakes in 1933 and 1952 increased the Coulomb stress toward failure at the site of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. The 1971 earthquake in turn raised stress and produced aftershocks at the site of the 1987 Whittier Narrows and 1994 Northridge ruptures. The Northridge main shock raised stress in areas where its aftershocks and surface faulting occurred. Together, the earthquakes with moment magnitude M ≥ 6 near Los Angeles since 1933 have stressed parts of the Oak Ridge, Sierra Madre, Santa Monica Mountains, Elysian Park, and Newport-Inglewood faults by more than 1 bar. Although too small to cause earthquakes, these stress changes can trigger events if the crust is already near failure or advance future earthquake occurrence if it is not.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Stress triggering of the 1994 M = 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake by its predecessors
Series title Science
DOI 10.1126/science.265.5177.1432
Volume 265
Issue 5177
Year Published 1994
Language English
Publisher American Association for the Advancement of Science
Description 4 p.
First page 1432
Last page 1435
Country United States
State California
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