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Newspaper story on earthquake hazards in Santa Rosa, California, features information from USGS scientists

By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center February 21, 2018

USGS scientists Janet Watt and Suzanne Hecker provided information to the article’s author.

On February 21, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat published an article about what Sonoma County residents can expect from a significant earthquake on the San Andreas or Hayward/Rodgers Creek fault. USGS scientists Janet Watt (research geophysicist with Coastal and Marine Geology Program) and Suzanne Hecker (research geologist with Earthquake Hazards Program) provided information to the article’s author, reporter Stephen Nett. Hecker led a team that used laser-based mapping to confirm that the Rodgers Creek fault runs beneath the center of Santa Rosa. Watt led a team that discovered a link between the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults, increasing the possibility that the two faults could rupture together and produce a larger earthquake than either fault alone.

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Shaded relief image of the Santa Rosa area showing active faults
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Shaded relief image of the Santa Rosa area showing active faults (black lines) and the detailed rupture pattern of the Rodgers Creek Fault where it crosses central Santa Rosa (in red). The orange, bean-shaped area represents the dense, magnetic body of rock on the east side of the fault beneath Santa Rosa. This body of rock may be largely responsible for the pattern of surface faulting and may influence the distribution of small earthquakes (white and blue circles, blue for 1969 aftershocks) and the occurrence of the damaging 1969 earthquakes (approximately located by blue stars).
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