Largest Earthquake Ever Recorded in the History of California Shocked the World

Friday’s 7.1 magnitude quake was the strongest in the region since 1999.

California governor declares state of emergency after second earthquake.

source -

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci38457511/map

The second large earthquake in two days shook the Ridgecrest area of eastern California – in the Mojave desert. It took place approximately 34 hours after and 7 miles (11 km) northwest of a 6.4-magnitude foreshock, which happened on July 4 in a nearby remote area of California’s San Bernardino County. The 7.1-magnitude earthquake took place at 03:19 UTC on July 6, 2019 (8:19 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 5

The epicenter was in a remote area about 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, Calif., a city of 28,000 that had already declared a state of emergency after a nearby 6.4-magnitude temblor hit on Thursday.

California earthquake scientist Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – who frequently serves as a public voice for science on the subject of California earthquakes – said that the 7.1-magnitude quake “probably” would not trigger more quakes or larger quakes outside the Ridgecrest, California, area.

State highway officials shut down a 48-kilometre section of State Route 178 between Ridgecrest and the town of Trona southwest of Death Valley because of a rockslide and severe cracking.

Dr. Lucy Jones, seismologist at California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the Geological Survey, says latest 7.1 magnitude earthquake will not trigger another earthquake outside Ridgecrest, CA, region. pic.twitter.com/5NX56ZOKD6

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) July 6, 2019

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video source-https://pmdvod.nationalgeographic.com/NG_Video/951/427/earthquakes-101_2__295005.mp4
also check -https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/earthquakes/

California Earthquake July 2019 cause-

Tectonic Summary- (source from-https://earthquake.usgs.gov/)

The July 6th, 2019, 03:19 UTC (July 5th 20:19 locally) Mw 7.1 earthquake in eastern California, southwest of Searles Valley, occurred as the result of shallow strike slip faulting in the crust of the North America plate. Focal mechanism solutions for the earthquake indicate rupture occurred on a steeply dipping fault as the result of either right lateral slip on a plane striking NW-SE, or as left lateral slip on a plane striking SW-NE. At the location of this earthquake, approximately 150 km northeast of San Andreas Fault - the major plate boundary in the region – the Pacific plate moves to the northwest with respect to the North America plate at a rate of approximately 48 mm/yr. The location of the earthquake falls within the Eastern California shear zone, a region of distributed faulting associated with motion across the Pacific:North America plate boundary, and an area of high seismic hazard. More detailed studies will be required to precisely identify the causative fault associated with this event, though seismic activity over the past 2 days has been occurring on two conjugate fault structures in the Airport Lake Fault Zone.

This earthquake occurs approximately 34 hours after and 11 km northwest of a M 6.4 event in the same region, on July 4th, 2019, at 17:33 UTC. The July 4th event was preceded by a short series of small foreshocks (including a M4.0 earthquake 30 minutes prior), and was followed by a robust sequence of aftershocks, including almost 250 M 2.5+ earthquakes (up until the M 7.1 event). Those events aligned with both nodal planes (NE-SW and NW-SE) of the focal mechanism solution of the M 6.4 event, which was very similar in faulting style to today’s M 7.1 earthquake. The sequence includes two other M5+ earthquakes, one of which occurred 20 seconds before the M 7.1 event. The M 7.1 earthquake occurred at the NW extension of the prior sequence.

While commonly plotted as points on maps, earthquakes of this size are more appropriately described as slip over a larger fault area. Strike-slip-faulting events of the size of the July 6, 2019, earthquake are typically about 70x15 km (length x width).

This region of eastern California has hosted numerous moderate sized earthquakes. Over the past 40 years, prior to the July 4th event, 8 other M5+ earthquakes have occurred within 50 km of the July 6th, 2019 earthquake. The largest of these was a M 5.8 event on September 20, 1995, just 3 km to the west of today’s event, which was felt strongly in the China Lake-Ridgecrest area, and more broadly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.