By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-14 19:41:42 | Updated at 2025-03-15 07:00:12
11 hours ago
California was rocked by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake on Friday.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the quake around 10:26am PT (1:30pm ET) near Bombay Beach, which sits northeast of San Diego.
The agency's aftershock forecast shows a 90 percent chance of a 3 magnitude or higher hitting in the next week and a 29 percent risk of a 4 magnitude.
There is a small, four percent chance of a five magnitude aftershock.
Bombay Beach sits directly on the San Andreas Fault, which is one of the most significant and active fault lines in California.
The fault spans 800 miles from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south, and scientists have long warned it could produce an 8 magnitude or higher quake known as the 'Big One.'
The 'Big One' would cause roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damages, according to the Great California Shakeout.
The last major earthquakes on the San Andreas fault were in 1857 and 1906.
California was rocked by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake just miles outside San Diego on Friday
The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the quake around 10:26am PT (1:30pm ET) near Bombay Beach that sits northeast of San Diego
The USGS shows the earthquake hit at a depth of five miles, meaning it it originated relatively close to the Earth's surface.
The shallow-focus quake can lead to more intense shaking and potentially greater damage on the surface, according to USGS.
No injuries or damage have been reported.
Experts are 'fairly confident that there could be a pretty large earthquake at some point [on San Andreas] in the next 30 years,' Angie Lux, project scientist for Earthquake Early Warning at the Berkeley Seismology Lab, previously told DailyMail.com.
Dr Sue Hough, a scientist in the USGS' Earthquake Hazards Program, told KTLA5 that there are conflicting studies about what signs precede a major earthquake.
Some research suggested more activity happens before it hits, while others have found there is no warning, she added.
The fault released another quake on Tuesday, measuring a 2.5 magnitude, outside of San Francisco.
California has had more than 6,200 earthquakes of magnitudes up to 4.7 this year alone, according to Volcano Discovery.
The USGS aftershock forecast shows a 90 percent chance of a 3 magnitude or higher hitting in the next week and a 29 percent risk of a 4 magnitude. There is a small, four percent chance of a five magnitude aftershock
Approximately four quakes were above magnitude 4 and around 5,800 were below magnitude 2.
The vast majority of earthquakes result from the constant movement of tectonic plates, which are massive, solid slabs of rock that make up the planetary surface and shift around on top of Earth's mantle — the inner layer between the crust and core.
As the tectonic plates slowly move against each other, their edges can get stuck due to friction and stress will build along the edges.
When that stress overcomes the friction, the plates slip, causing a release of energy that travels in waves through the Earth's crust and generates the shaking we feel at the surface.
