(TRUNEWS) Major earthquakes may be coming to the U.S.
Experts believe the southern section of the San Andreas fault in California is ready to rumble because the pressure hasn’t been relieved in over a century. They claim earthquakes should be alleviating 16 feet of accumulated plate every 100 years. The last big earthquake occurred in 1857 between Monterey County and the San Gabriel Mountains.
“The springs on the San Andreas system have been wound very, very tight. And the southern San Andreas fault, in particular, looks like it’s locked, loaded and ready to go,” said Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, as reported by Los Angeles Times.
A statement in 2008 by the U.S. Geological Survey concluded a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the southern San Andreas would cause more than 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage.
But the west isn’t the only area of the U.S. that could be shaken up, according to Daily Mail. A new study finds the southeastern section of the country could also be affected.
Researchers claim pieces of the earth’s mantle have broken off and are sinking into the planet. This causes the remaining plate to weaken, making it prone to slipping – which can cause earthquakes.
“Our idea supports the view that this seismicity will continue due to unbalanced stresses in the plate,” said Berk Biryol, a seismologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lead author of the new study.
It is not yet known how earthquakes in the middle of plates differ from those at the edges.
Biryol considers his findings to be significant because it was previously believed the middle sections of plates were stable.
The post U.S. ready to rumble – experts warning of major earthquakes appeared first on TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles.
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