California Earthquakes

Jim Berkland of beautiful Glen Ellen, California, seems like a nice down-to-earth guy. He is a former geologist for Santa Clara County and runs the SyzygyJob.Org earthquake prediction website.

He claims to have predicted the series of earthquakes that took place in Northern and Southern California in the last few days. Have you felt any of them?

This data, from the USGS earthquake database on November 1, 2001 at 09:17 a.m. EDT, shows a series of quakes from 3.0 to 5.4 magnitude in California:

2001/10/30 03:24:29 24.17N 109.02W 10.0
5.4M A GULF OF CALIFORNIA
2001/10/30 12:58:32 34.35N 116.47W 9.4
3.4M SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
2001/10/30 19:38:34 38.77N 122.73W 2.5
3.1M NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
2001/10/30 21:07:43 38.84N 122.78W 2.3
3.0M NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
2001/10/31 07:56:16 33.50N 116.52W 14.2
5.1M SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Berkland states that a series of small quakes indicate that there’s still unrest down below. If you’re living where the fault is slipping regularly, you’re unlikely to get large quakes, as this relieves the strain. The greatest concern now is between the California towns of Parkfield and Palmdale.

Could an earthquake happen in the area of Happy Camp? The answer is yes. There are earthquake faults all over the United States, except an area around the Dakotas and in Southern Florida. Pressure is building up under the volcanoes at Sisters, Oregon, where the ground is beginning to bulge ominously. Release of this pressure in volcanic activity could set off earthquakes in surrounding areas.