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How little-known fault lines could trigger the next earthquake in US

MailOnline
Summary
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85% Informative

Five of the largest quakes in the last 25 years originated on 'mangy wannabe' 'branch' faults that stem from larger ones.

These 'wannabe faults' are found branching off of major fault lines like the San Andreas and the Queen Charlotte Fault in Alaska and Canada .

The researchers propose that branch faults can act as 'on-ramps' to generate ruptures on 'superhighway' continental transform faults.

The Big One is a hypothetical, but inevitable, high-magnitude continental transform earthquake that would decimate entire cities. Experts have estimated that this quake would cause roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, according to the California Earthquake Authority . The seismic event is predicted to occur somewhere along the San Andreas or the Cascadia Subduction Zone . But if Stein and Bird 's theory is correct, it could originate on a nearby branch fault - making it even harder to predict and prepare for..

VR Score

88

Informative language

88

Neutral language

62

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

50

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

medium-lived

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