The tremors have increased under the San Andreas fault and is giving scientists as well as government officials sleepless nights. According to reserchers Robert Nadeau and Aurellie Guilhem ’s findings the earthquakes in 2003 and 2004 of magnitude 6.5 and 6.0 near the San Andreas Fault were preceded with background noises which were actually tremors.
Nadeau and Aurelie have proved the connection between tremors and earthquakes and these new tremors which have increased by 80 percent within last four years is making officials and scientists worried.
The southern California experiences a quake every 85 to 142 years which makes a quake 10 years overdue for this region. The temblor in 1857, one of the greatest earthquakes in California history, caused little damage because the region was virtually uninhabited at the time, but the fault has generated no significant movement since then and is considered locked for 185 m
A series of small tremors was seen a few days before the Parkfield quake, so Nadeau hopes there may be a way to interpret them to get some kind of warning of future quakes.
Seismologists say the study is intriguing and could help warn Californians of what’s ahead, but they say there’s not enough data to know what the San Andreas is doing in the long term.