List of earthquakes in California
The earliest known earthquake in the
Since the three damaging earthquakes that occurred in the American Midwest and the United States East Coast (1755 Cape Ann, 1811–12 New Madrid, 1886 Charleston) were well known, it became apparent to settlers that the earthquake hazard was different in California. While the 1812 San Juan Capistrano, 1857 Fort Tejon, and 1872 Owens Valley shocks were in mostly unpopulated areas and only moderately destructive, the 1868 Hayward event affected the thriving financial hub of the San Francisco Bay Area, with damage from Santa Rosa in the north to Santa Cruz in the south. By this time, scientists were well aware of the threat, but seismology was still in its infancy. Following destructive earthquakes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, real estate developers, press, and boosters minimized and downplayed the risk of earthquakes out of fear that the ongoing economic boom would be negatively affected.[3][4]
According to seismologist
Early developments at the
Tectonic setting
During the last 66 million years, nearly the entire west coast of North America was dominated by a subduction zone, with the Farallon Plate subducting beneath the North American Plate. Presently, the Juan de Fuca Plate (with its Explorer and Gorda satellite plates) and the Rivera and Cocos Plates are the only remnants of the once much larger Farallon Plate. The plate margin that remains in California is that of the strike-slip San Andreas Fault (SAF), the diffuse Pacific–North American plate boundary that extends east into the Basin and Range Province of eastern California and western Nevada (a seismically active area called Walker Lane) and southwest into the California Continental Borderland region off the central and southern coasts. This system of faults terminates in the north at the Mendocino Triple Junction, one of the most seismically active regions in the state, where earthquakes are occasionally the result of intraplate deformation within the Gorda Plate. It terminates in the south at the Salton Sea where displacement transitions to a series of spreading centers and transform faults, beginning with the Brawley Seismic Zone in the Imperial Valley.[6]
In the
Notable earthquakes
Date | Name | Area | Mag. | MMI
|
Deaths | Injuries | Total damage | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022-12-20 | Humboldt County | North Coast | 6.4 Mw | VIII | 2 | 17 | ||
2019-07-05 | Ridgecrest | Eastern | 7.1 Mw | IX | 5 | $5.3bn | Doublet | |
2019-07-04 | Ridgecrest | Eastern | 6.4 Mw | VIII | 1 | 20 | $5.3bn | Doublet |
2014-08-24 | South Napa | North Bay | 6.0 Mw | VIII | 1 | ~200 | $362M–$1bn | |
2014-03-28 | La Habra | LA Area | 5.1 Mw | VII | Few | $10.8M | [7] | |
2010-04-04 | Baja California | Baja California | 7.2 Mw | VII | 2–4 | 100–233 | $1.15bn | |
2010-01-09 | Eureka | North Coast | 6.5 Mw | VI | 35 | $21.8–43M | ||
2008-07-29 | Chino Hills | LA Area | 5.4 Mw | VI | 8 | Limited | ||
2007-10-30 | Alum Rock | Bay Area
|
5.6 Mw | VI | Limited | |||
2003-12-22 | San Simeon | Central Coast | 6.6 Mw | VIII | 2 | 40 | $250–300M | |
2000-09-03 | Yountville | North Bay | 5.0 Mw | VII | 41 | $10–50M | ||
1999-10-16 | Hector Mine | Eastern | 7.1 Mw | VII | 4–5 | Limited | ||
1994-01-17 | Northridge | LA Area | 6.7 Mw | IX | 57 | 8,700+ | $13–40bn | |
1992-06-28 | Big Bear | Inland Empire | 6.5 Mw | VIII | 63 | More than $60M | Triggered | |
1992-06-28 | Landers | Inland Empire | 7.3 Mw | IX | 3 | 400+ | $92M | |
1992-04-26 | Cape Mendocino | North Coast | 6.6 Mw | VIII | Some | Triggered | ||
1992-04-26 | Cape Mendocino | North Coast | 6.5 Mw | VIII | Some | Triggered | ||
1992-04-25 | Cape Mendocino | North Coast | 7.2 Mw | IX | 98–356 | $48–75M | Tsunami | |
1992-04-22 | Joshua Tree | Inland Empire | 6.3 Ms | VII | 32 | Light–moderate | [7] | |
1991-06-28 | Sierra Madre | LA Area | 5.6 Mw | VII | 2 | 100–107 | $34–40M | |
1990-02-28 | Upland | LA Area | 5.7 Mw | VII | 30 | $12.7M | ||
1989-10-17 | Loma Prieta | Santa Cruz Mts | 6.9 Mw | IX | 63 | 3,757 | $5.6–6bn | Tsunami |
1989-08-08 | Loma Prieta | Santa Cruz Mts | 5.4 ML | VII | 1 | Minor | ||
1987-11-24 | Elmore Ranch | Imperial Valley | 6.5 Mw | VIII | 2 | 90+ | Triggered [8] | |
1987-11-23 | Superstition Hills | Imperial Valley | 6.1 Mw | VIII | $3M | [8] | ||
1987-10-01 | Whittier | LA Area | 5.9 Mw | VIII | 8 | 200 | $213–358M | |
1986-07-21 | Chalfant Valley | Eastern | 6.2 Mw | VI | 2 | $2.7M | Sequence | |
1986-07-13 | Oceanside | South Coast | 5.8 Mw | VI | 1 | $700k | [9] | |
1986-07-08 | N. Palm Springs | Inland Empire | 6.0 Mw | VII | 29–40 | $4.5–6M | ||
1984-04-24 | Morgan Hill | South Bay | 6.2 Mw | VIII | 21–27 | $7.5–8M | ||
1983-05-02 | Coalinga | Central Valley | 6.2 Mw | VIII | 94 | $10M | ||
1981-04-26 | Westmorland | Imperial Valley | 5.9 Mw | VII | $1–3M | [10] | ||
1980-11-08 | Eureka | North Coast | 7.3 Mw | VII | 6 | $2–2.75M | ||
1980-05-25 | Mammoth Lakes | Eastern | 6.2 Mw | VII | 9 | $1.5M | Swarm[11] | |
1980-01-26 | Livermore | East Bay | 5.4 Mw | VII | Doublet [12] | |||
1980-01-24 | Livermore | East Bay | 5.8 Mw | VII | $11.5M | Doublet [13] | ||
1979-10-15 | Imperial Valley | Imperial Valley | 6.4 Mw | IX | 91 | $30M | ||
1979-08-06 | Coyote Lake | South Bay | 5.7 Mw | VII | 16 | $500k | ||
1978-08-13 | Santa Barbara | Central Coast | 5.8 Mw | VII | 65 | $12M | [14] | |
1975-08-01 | Butte County | Butte County | 5.7 ML | VIII | 10 | $3M | [7] | |
1973-02-21 | Point Mugu | South Coast | 5.8 Mw | VII | Several | $1M | ||
1971-02-09 | San Fernando | LA Area | 6.6 Mw | XI | 58–65 | 200–2,000 | $505–553M | |
1969-10-01 | Santa Rosa | North Bay | 5.7 Mw | VIII | Doublet | |||
1969-10-01 | Santa Rosa | North Bay | 5.6 Mw | VII | 1 | $8.35M | Doublet | |
1968-04-08 | Borrego Mtn | Imperial Valley | 6.5 Mw | VII | Some | Rockslides [15] | ||
1957-03-22 | San Francisco | Bay Area | 5.7 Mw | VII | 1 | 40 | $1M | |
1954-12-21 | Eureka | North Coast | 6.5 ML | VII | 1 | Several | $2.1M | [16] |
1952-08-22 | Kern County | Central Valley | 5.8 Mw | VIII | 2 | Several | $10M | |
1952-07-21 | Kern County | Central Valley | 7.3 Mw | XI | 12 | Hundreds | $60M | |
1948-12-04 | Desert Hot Springs | Inland Empire | 6.4 Mw | VII | Several | Minor | ||
1941-11-14 | Torrance–Gardena | LA Area | 5.4 Ms | VIII | $1.1M | [17] | ||
1941-06-30 | Santa Barbara | Central Coast | 5.9 Mw | VIII | $100k | [18] | ||
1940-05-18 | El Centro | Imperial Valley | 6.9 Mw | X | 9 | 20 | $6M | |
1933-03-10 | Long Beach | South Coast | 6.4 Mw | VIII | 115–120 | $40M | ||
1932-06-06 | Eureka | North Coast | 6.4 Mw | VIII | 1 | 3 | Severe | |
1927-11-04 | Lompoc | Central Coast | 7.3 Mw | Moderate | Tsunami [19] | |||
1925-06-29 | Santa Barbara | Central Coast | 6.8 Mw | IX | 13 | $8M | ||
1923-01-22 | Humboldt County | North Coast | 7.2 Ms | Severe | Tsunami [20] | |||
1920-06-21 | Inglewood | LA Area | 4.9 ML | VIII | More than $100k | [21] | ||
1918-04-21 | San Jacinto | Inland Empire | 6.7 Mw | IX | 1 | Several | $200k | |
1915-06-22 | Imperial Valley | Imperial Valley | 5.5 Mw | VIII | 6 | $900k | Doublet [22] | |
1906-04-18 | San Francisco | Northern–Central | 7.9 Mw | XI | 700–3,000+ | Conflagration / tsunami | ||
1899-12-25 | San Jacinto | Inland Empire | 6.7 Mw | IX | 6 | $50k or more | [23] | |
1898-03-30 | Mare Island | North Bay | 5.8–6.4 Mw | VIII–IX | $350k | |||
1892-04-21 | Vacaville–Winters | Central Valley | 6.2 MLa | IX | Doublet | |||
1892-04-19 | Vacaville–Winters | North Bay | 6.4 MLa | IX | 1 | $225–250k | Doublet | |
1892-02-23 | Laguna Salada | Baja California | 7.1–7.2 Mw | VIII | Moderate | |||
1873-11-23 | Crescent City | North Coast | 6.7 MLa | VIII | Some | Ground cracks [24] | ||
1872-03-26 | Owens Valley | Eastern | 7.4–7.9 Mw | X | 27 | 56 | $250k | |
1868-10-21 | Hayward | Bay Area | 6.3–6.7 Mw | IX | 30 | $350k | ||
1865-10-08 | Santa Cruz Mts | Santa Cruz Mts | 6.3 MLa | VIII | $500k | [25] | ||
1857-01-09 | Fort Tejon | Central–Southern | 7.9 Mw | IX | 2 | Severe | ||
1838-06-?? | San Andreas | Bay Area | 6.8–7.2 Mw | VIII | Minor | |||
1812-12-21 | Ventura | Central Coast | 7.1 MLa | VIII | 1 | Tsunami [26] | ||
1812-12-08 | San Juan Capistrano | South Coast | 6.9–7.5 | VII–IX | 40 | Moderate | ||
notability essay that was developed for stand alone articles. The principles described are also applicable to lists. In summary, only damaging, injurious, or deadly events should be recorded. k= thousand, M = million, bn = billion |
See also
- Alquist Priolo Special Studies Zone Act
- California earthquake forecast
- Field Act
- Geography of California
- Geology and geological history of California
- Southern California Earthquake Center
- Timeline of the Portolá expedition
References
- ^ Toppozada, T. R.; Branum, D. (2004), "California earthquake history", Annals of Geophysics, 47 (2–3): 509–512
- ISBN 978-0607716269
- ^ ISBN 978-0691128078
- ^ ISBN 978-0801865961.
- ^ ISBN 978-0393329988
- ^ ISBN 978-0521190855
- ^ doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K
- ^ a b Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 98, 179, 180
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 97, 177
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 96, 168, 169
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 95, 168
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 95, 166, 167
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 94, 166, 167
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 94, 163
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 91, 154
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 88, 148
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 82, 137
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 82, 136
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 77, 128
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 77, 125
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 76, 124
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 76, 121
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 74, 113
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 73, 108
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 73, 104
- ^ Stover & Coffman 1993, pp. 72, 100
Sources
- Stover, C. W.; Coffman, J. L. (1993), Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised), U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office
Further reading
- Rodda, P. U.; Leviton, A. E. (1983), "Nineteenth Century Earthquake Investigations in California", Earth Sciences History, 2 (1): 48–56, JSTOR 24135726
- S2CID 130712233
External links
- Information by Region-California – USGS
- Southern California Earthquake Data Center
- Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country – Earthquake Country Alliance
- Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center – University of California, San Diego
- What Will Happen After The 'Big One' Hits SoCal? – KCET
- Little-known quake, tsunami hazards lurk offshore of Southern California – American Geophysical Union
- California’s other drought: A major earthquake is overdue – The Conversation
- New California bill aims to create a public inventory of collapse-risk buildings – Temblor, Inc.