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http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/dec2008/markc125-1.htm
Mark Copfer (5 Dec 2008) "Web Bots Next Up Quakes"
Week To Quakes?
Since the predictive linguistics have these 'twin quakes' coming up (window opens in a week temporally) a great email from a well-versed reader on some of the things Californians might want to ponder:
"George, As you know California has had three great earthquakes in the last 150 years. Two have occurred on the San Andreas fault. Both were mammoth; 1906 San Francisco quake 7.7-8.2 and the 1857 Ft. Tejon quake 7.9-8.1. A major quake occurs on the San Andreas fault on average every 140 years......so we're overdue by 10 years.
I'll list 4 scenarios within the 32-36 N. Latitudes.
1. Colorado River/All American Canal: Western U.S. bread basket for winter vegetables is the Imperial valley/Mexicali. The San Andreas ends near the Salton Sea and the San Jacinto fault begins on the Westside of the Salton sea and extends southward to the Gulf of California. A larger quake here could rupture open the Gulf of California allowing a channel of water to move in through Mexico and merger with the Salton Sea. There is a 100 mile from Indio to the Mexican border that is below sea level. A smaller quake would disrupt waterways including the All American canal, the largest irrigation canal in the world creating significant damage to the crops. It would take a huge rupture to force water inland not likely but faintly possible.
Most of So Cal water is imported; LA aqueduct from Owens Valley, California aqueduct from the state water project and the Colorado River aqueduct. All three aqueducts cross the San Andreas fault. The great fear is not transpiration disruption but unavailable water.
2. The Colorado River aqueduct parallels the San Andreas fault separated by a distance of 1-5 miles from Coachella Valley west to Banning about 40 miles. After crossing the fault near Banning in Riverside County the water is deposited in Lake Mathews for distribution throughout LA, Orange and San Diego counties. A good size quake here would produce water disruptions and shutdowns.
3. Half of all Southern California water usages comes from the California aqueduct. The California aqueduct transports water 450 miles from Sacramento River delta to Los Angeles. The California aqueduct crosses the San Andreas fault through Cajon pass north of San Bernardino. The water is then distributed through all of So Cal. The San Andreas fault passes through Northern LA county on the north of the San Gabriel mountains. Unfortunately that is where the California aqueduct is located. The aqueduct is tucked in next to the San Andreas fault for about 35 miles. At this point the aqueduct heads Northwest to tie in with the Los Angeles aqueduct while the fault maintains a more westerly direction lifting to 4,000ft as the fault precedes through Ft. Tejon. A Ft.Tejon type quake with similar magnitude would more than likely result in equipment failure and cracks/leakage along miles of the canal.
4. San Luis Dam: The California aqueduct parallels the San Andreas fault along the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley for 170 miles......separated by 10/30 miles. The water is stored in the San Luis reservoir/lake. The reservoir is a huge man made lake supported by the San Luis Dam. The Dam is 25 miles east of the San Andreas fault. 20 miles west of San Luis Dam is the city of Hollister....."earthquake capital of the U.S." Southwest of Hollister only a few miles west of the San Andreas fault is the "salad capital of the world" the Salinas Valley. A major quake in this area could create major/minor agricultural shortages but a significant crack in the Dam could be a disaster..... the damage would be relative to the amount of water stored in the lake. Right now the dams in the Sierras are holding little water.
5. Bay area slips: A large bay area quake off the Hayward fault causes sea water to rush into the shipping channels of the Sacramento Delta flooding thousands of acres, busting levies and mixing seawater with fertile soil.
Again, we hope to be wrong on the quakes, or that they happen in areas where there's no impact, but we should know in about two weeks whether we're right or wrong...We don't know, for example if the 32-36 latitude band is north or south, and even if north, that could still cover the New Madrid region. Dramamine ready? Stand by to cue the 'dancing mountains'.
http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm
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