San Andreas Fault Just Got Longer

One of the truly amazing and simultaneously terrifying sites is to see an aerial view of Elkhorn Scarp, a visual scar on the landscape of central California that shows the San Andreas Fault's mark on the land. And according to newly discovered “mud pots”, the San Andreas fault may be longer than previously thought.

A mudpot is simply a hot spring of bubbling mud that speaks to geothermal activity in the rocks beneath it, which has pushed water or gas up through the ground. These mudpots were found by David Lynch and Kenneth Hudnut of the US Geological Survey, who were part of a comprehensive analysis of a region lying well beyond what was believed to be the southernmost point of the San Andreas Fault line.

"We found a large number of mud pots and mud volcanoes, many of which were lined up beyond the accepted end of the San Andreas Fault," says Lynch, who believes that these mudpots indicate a deep rift in the Earth’s crust beneath, and thus a possible continuation of the fault.

"Some geologists knew about a few of these pots, and one even suggested many years ago that they might indicate a fault," says Lynch, speaking to the idea that a southern extension of the fault had already been suspected. But due to heavy agriculture wiping the area clean of any visible signs, their discovery adds further weight to the argument.

However there is no new threat, and these findings, according to Lynch, do not represent a growth of the San Andreas Fault, which only today rocked Los Angeles with a 5.8 earthquake.

Posted by Josh Hill.