Earthquake Hazards Program

USGS Geophysicists Elizabeth Cochran and Nick VanDerElst install a seismometer on the base.

USGS scientists and partners review objectives and group assignments  at fault scarp site. The team will deploy seismic instruments to better observe aftershock activity from close in, and to document surface faulting.

USGS Seismologists Alan Yong and Elizabeth Cohcran conduct field work near the main rupture between Trona and Ridgecrest California.

USGS scientist pointing to the fault scarp that shows the fault moved horizontally, as well as laterally.

Fault scarp close to the epicenter. In this location the fault has a main strand where much of the slip occurred, as well as distributed fractures.

California State Route 178 SW of Trona, following the M7.1 earthquake. Road is now closed for repairs. 

Highway 178 SW of Trona. Taken earlier in the morning July 6, 2019 after the M7.1 earthquake which struck eastern California, southwest of Searles Valley, near Ridgecrest, CA.

Scientists from USGS & CGS and Navy escort, and a UCLA engineer from the GEER team, inspect ~12 +/- 3 foot high fault scarp with from 3 to 5 feet of right-lateral motion near the expected maximum slip locality along the primary tectonic rupture associated with the M 7.1 event.

Fault scarp at offset access road site. Center line has been offset up and to the right as one looks across the fault towards the east.

Team discussion among CGS and USGS earthquake scientists at the location of the primary surface fault rupture where is has disrupted and offset an access road at the NAWS China Lake. The fault runs NW to SE across the road, which runs from west to east. The east side of the road is uplifted relative to the west side. The west side has shifted permanently towards the NW

Railroad tracks offset right-laterally by about 3 feet; southeast of Hwy. 178.