Today's M6.3 Earthquake Offshore San Diego
The earthquake occurred about 263 km SW of Avalon, California (red star) with few aftershocks. It was a normal faulting (tensional) event, not the usual strike slip event we expect in California earthquakes. It also occurred in what we consider to be a region at low probability for a M>6.5 event as shown by the image below. While one can never say for certain that a given event is/is not a foreshock of a larger event, the fact that it occurred in a such a low probability region would argue against viewing this event as a direct precursor to a larger event.
Taxonomy Upgrade Extras:
Earthquake Forecasting
About OpenHazards Bloggers
Steven Ward is a Research Geophysicist at
the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, UC Santa Cruz. He specializes in the quantification and simulation of
natural hazards. Read Steve's blog.
John Rundle is a Distinguished Professor of Physics
and Geology at UC Davis and
the Executive Director of the APEC Collaboration for Earthquake Simulations. He
chaired the Board of Advisors for the Southern California Earthquake Center from 1994 to 1996. Read John's blog.