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Slip in the 1857 and Earlier Large Earthquakes Along the Carrizo Plain, San Andreas Fault

Olaf Zielke, J Ramon R. Arrowsmith, Lisa B. Grant Ludwig, & Sinan O. Akciz

Published 2010, SCEC Contribution #1310

The Mw7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake of 1857, with a ~350-km-long surface rupture, was the most recent major earthquake along the south-central San Andreas Fault, California. Based on previous measurements of its surface slip distribution, rupture along the ~60-km-long Carrizo segment was thought to control the recurrence of 1857-like earthquakes. New high-resolution topographic data show that the average slip along the Carrizo segment during the 1857 event was 5.3 ± 1.4 m, eliminating the core assumption for a linkage between Carrizo segment rupture and recurrence of major earthquakes along the south-central San Andreas Fault. Earthquake slip along the Carrizo segment may recur in earthquake clusters with cumulative slip of ~5 m.

Citation
Zielke, O., Arrowsmith, J. R., Grant Ludwig, L. B., & Akciz, S. O. (2010). Slip in the 1857 and Earlier Large Earthquakes Along the Carrizo Plain, San Andreas Fault. Science, Science Express, online. doi: 10.1126/science.1182781.