San Andreas Fault: New San Jose State University research finds fault is slipping faster than previously thought

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Just a week after a 3.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the Hayward Fault in Oakland, new research is highlighting a danger on the San Andreas Fault.

Researchers at San Jose State University found that the fault is slipping faster than previously thought.

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SJSU Professor Kim Blisniuk spoke with ABC7 Eyewitness News about the new research.

“And so the great aspect of this work is that it is a rate of which the landform preserves previous earthquakes along the fault,” Blisniuk said. “And the rate is similar to the rate that we get for the San Andreas Fault to the north in the north coast section. But prior to the work that my colleagues and I did at Sanborn County Park, the rate appears to not decrease along the San Andreas Fault, but it appears to be constant over this 10,000-year window that we were able to document.”

This matters because faults that move faster can generally produce earthquakes more frequently.

“We know that we live on a plate boundary, and we are always surprised when we hear, ‘Oh my gosh, an earthquake occurred in Japan or Colombia,’ but we are going to have an earthquake in California, and we should be prepared,” Blisniuk said. “I don’t think the idea that the slip rates are and constant along the San Andreas Fault, where we have studied, it is a big surprise to a lot of people. We just didn’t have that data before.”

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Historically, both the devastating 1989 Loma Prieta and 1906 San Francisco earthquakes happened along the San Andreas Fault zone.

“So we do have historical earthquakes along this fault, and we will have them in the future,” Blisniuk said.

The research has not yet been published or peer-reviewed yet, but it’s a good reminder to always be ready.

“I always use the example of insurance. We always want auto insurance. We buy auto insurance, home insurance. We never want to use it, but it’s there for us,” Blisniuk said. “And so, having an earthquake preparedness kit to prepare us for a potential disaster when an earthquake occurs will really help us deal with the trauma of having an earthquake.”

You can find earthquake preparedness tips here.

Watch the full interview in the player above.