Seismic Shockwaves: Southern California Hit by Powerful Earthquakes

Earthquakes Rock Southern California

South­ern Cal­i­for­nia was rocked by two earth­quakes less than 30 min­utes apart on Sat­ur­day morn­ing, leav­ing mil­lions across the region feel­ing the tremors. 

The first quake, mea­sur­ing 3.5 on the Richter scale, struck at 10:05 AM local time with an epi­cen­ter 4.3 miles south­east of Ontario. 

The sec­ond, stronger 3.9 mag­ni­tude quake, fol­lowed at 10:34 AM with an epi­cen­ter almost exact­ly in the same spot.

Experts Warn of Potential ‘Big One’

Geo­physi­cists now warn that Cal­i­for­nia could be at risk of a gen­er­a­tion-defin­ing mas­sive earthquake.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a Cal­tech geo­physi­cist, told reporters that 2024 has seen a record num­ber of mini-quakes across the state, and that the increase in small­er tremors could sig­nal the poten­tial for a larg­er event.

Ongoing Seismic Activity Raises Concerns

The recent seis­mic activ­i­ty has raised con­cerns among experts, who note that a spike in small­er quakes does not nec­es­sar­i­ly relieve ten­sion in the plate tec­ton­ics underground. 

In fact, Dr. Jones explained that the oppo­site is true, stat­ing, “The most con­stant fea­ture of earth­quakes is the rel­a­tive num­ber of large to small. For every mag­ni­tude sev­en, you have 10 mag­ni­tude six­es, 100 mag­ni­tude fives, 1,000 mag­ni­tude fours, etc.”