SCIENTISTS claim a fault line is a lot more active than first thought – and could cause an area of California to sink.
The notorious Newport-Inglewood fault – along which thousands live – is due a massive earthquake, according to new research.
And if a massive tremor took hold, it could cause large parts of the land to plummet straight into the sea.
Robert Leeper, who worked on the study as a California State Fullerton student and geologist with the US Geological Survey, said: “It’s not just a gradual sinking.
“This is boom — it would drop. It’s very rapid sinking.”
A team of scientists at Cal State Fullerton found evidence of salt marshes that had dropped below sea level during a prehistoric earthquake that caused California to sink
The team were initially looking for clues to tsunamis when they stumbled upon prehistoric remains of salt marshes that would have one day been higher than sea level.
They dropped after a large earthquake struck along the fault – and believe the same could happen again.
These previously unrecorded, prehistoric quakes were far larger and more devastating than the 1933 earthquake which killed 160.
Geologists initially believed major tremors occurred along the Newport-Inglewood fault – which stretches from Beverley Hills to San Diego – every 2,300 years.
But this new research suggests a super-destructive quake could happen every 700 years, with smaller ones every 150.
“It’s really clear evidence of three earthquakes on the Newport-Inglewood that are bigger than 1933,” seismologist Lucy Jones told the LA Times.
“This is very strong evidence for multiple big earthquakes.”
According to thesun.co.uk
