Land Around San Andreas Is Rising and Sinking, New Research Shows

Huge parts of California around that San Andreas fault are rising and sinking, a new research has found. For the first time, a team of researchers has come up with a computed image that shows this surprising phenomenon.

According to reports, the vertical movement of the land is a result of the seismic strain, which will eventually be released in a large earthquake. The area in question is the San Andreas fault, which is, by far, the longest earthquake fault in California. In addition, it is one of the most dangerous faults in the state.

The rising and sinking of land in California along the San Andreas fault was long expected by the researchers, However, this is the first time that they have used a computer image to depict the same. This phenomenon is extremely slow, subtle and ingoing.

Vertical movement primarily occurs because California resides in the middle of two tectonic plates - the Pacific and North American. These tectonic plates are known to grind past each other constantly.

During the study, the research team notices that a large part of the Orange County, the Los Angeles basin, the Bakersfield area and San Diego county are sinking 2 to 3 millimeters per year. On the other hand, areas such as San Bernardino County, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties are rising at the same pace.

However, the areas that stick close to the San Andreas fault remain locked in place. The researchers explain that when an earthquake would strike, different part of the Southern California will return back to their normal positions as the energy building up would get released.

The last big earthquake that affected the San Andreas with 7.9 magnitude took place in 1857. The earthquake ruptured from Monterey County through Los Angeles County.

The complete details of the study have been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.