The San Andreas Fault and San Jacinto Fault Zone have reached their highest stress levels in 1,000 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, leading scientists to wonder when California’s next “Big One” will occur.
The fault lines have reached “unprecedented levels,” according to the study, which was recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The study suggests that stress normally released in large earthquakes has continued to build as 160 years have passed since the last “major rupture.”
The study’s lead author, Liliane Burkhard, said the fault system is in a “critically loaded state.”…