Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
A Scripps Oceanography seismologist and colleagues have used a supercomputer to reveal the complex dynamics of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes — the biggest earthquakes to hit California in more than 20 years. This seismic event included a magnitude 6.4 foreshock event in Searles Valley on July 4, 2019, and a magnitude 7.1 mainshock event in Ridgecrest on July 5, about 34 hours later.
This animation of the M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake shows the rupture "unzipping" several faults of the Eastern California Shear Zone and the seismic waves that are shaking Earth's surface. The earthquake tunnels through the intersection with those faults that ruptured earlier, during the M6.4 Searles Valley foreshock.
Warmer colors correspond to higher wave speeds and fault displacements, up to 5 meters (16.4 feet). Black letters are the codes of seismic stations recording the event, serving as a reference for researchers to compare and validate their computer simulations. The text in blue (upper right) shows the mainshock rupture time 't' in seconds.
(Animation by Taufiq Taufiqurrahman and Alice Gabriel)
Learn more: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/segment-jumping-ridgecrest-earthquakes-explored-new-study
A Scripps Oceanography seismologist and colleagues have used a supercomputer to reveal the complex dynamics of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes — the biggest earthquakes to hit California in more than 20 years. This seismic event included a magnitude 6.4 foreshock event in Searles Valley on July 4, 2019, and a magnitude 7.1 mainshock event in Ridgecrest on July 5, about 34 hours later.
This animation of the M7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake shows the rupture "unzipping" several faults of the Eastern California Shear Zone and the seismic waves that are shaking Earth's surface. The earthquake tunnels through the intersection with those faults that ruptured earlier, during the M6.4 Searles Valley foreshock.
Warmer colors correspond to higher wave speeds and fault displacements, up to 5 meters (16.4 feet). Black letters are the codes of seismic stations recording the event, serving as a reference for researchers to compare and validate their computer simulations. The text in blue (upper right) shows the mainshock rupture time 't' in seconds.
(Animation by Taufiq Taufiqurrahman and Alice Gabriel)
Learn more: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/segment-jumping-ridgecrest-earthquakes-explored-new-study
