Seismologist explains the recent increase of earthquakes in Southern California
Clothing racks and surfboards inside Malibu's Drill Surf & Skate shop rattled during Sunday afternoon's magnitude 4.1 earthquake.
"It was definitely a pretty good jolt," owner Craig Clunies-Ross said. "It seems like over the last year or two, they happen more often, to me at least."
Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey agreed that Clunies-Ross's intuition is right. Last year, Los Angeles County experienced 15 seismic sequences that included a magnitude 4.0 earthquake and several aftershocks.
"That's actually the most we've had in the last 65 years," said Dr. Robert de Groot, a team leader with USGS's ShakeAlert.
The San Andreas Fault impacts the Malibu area.
"The Malibu coast, the beauty we have here, is the result of the squeezing that's going on and pushing stuff up," de Groot said. "The beauty is there because of the earthquakes, actually."
Malibu has seen at least five earthquakes and aftershocks in the past two days, including Sunday's. However, there is still the potential for a stronger one sticking the area.
De Groot said that in order to avoid a magnitude 6.0 earthquake, Southern California would have to experience about a thousand magnitude 4.0 earthquakes.
