Earthquake, magnitude 4.1, rattles South Bay
Earthquake, magnitude 4.1, rattles South Bay:- A jolt-and-roll felt around the Bay Area Monday afternoon jangled nerves in an area notorious for seismic restlessness.
The 4.1 earthquake struck at 5:53 p.m. about 12 miles east of San Jose in Joseph D. Grant County Park, in a locked-up patch of rocks deep underground near the Calaveras Fault in a remote oak-studded landscape.
“It was just one short shock, like a bang,” said Laura Lemay of Los Gatos, who lives in the hills above Lexington Reservoir. “Then a little wiggle, and then it was over. “
Kevin Arnold, also of Los Gatos, said “It felt like a couple of loud shoves to the house, not sharp bangs like I’ve felt in previous quakes. I’m guessing more of a rolling effect on us. Not enough to warrant getting out of my chair though,” he quipped.
The epicenter, about four miles underground, was located in the south corner of the county park about a mile off Mount Hamilton Road, where the park’s Hotel Trail bends into Foothill Trail.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority halted light-rail service after the earthquake to inspect its 29 trains and 40-plus miles of track, said transit agency spokeswoman Linh Hoang, adding that the procedure is standard. Nothing was amiss and service resumed by 6:15 p.m.
In San Jose, Miriam Watson was sitting in her car in the parking lot at Sprouts on Brokaw Road “and all the sudden my car started shaking…. I jumped out of my car to see if the Earth was moving, but felt nothing. So I got back in my car thinking I had been mistaken!”
There were no reports of damage in San Jose, said city spokeswoman Cheryl Wessling.
A much smaller 1.5 earthquake was felt in the same region about an hour earlier, at 4:29 p.m.
The jolt was the latest in a series of occasional tremors triggered by the restless fault, which routinely releases stress caused by the earth’s shifting continental plates.
According to USGS seismologist David Oppenheimer, based in Menlo Park, it is not unusual for the Calaveras Fault to have magnitude 4 quakes, which are unlikely to cause any structural damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates a 7.4 percent likelihood of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake on the Calaveras Fault in the next 30 years, and a 14.3 percent chance on the Hayward Fault.
The Calaveras Fault and Hayward Fault are believed to be linked, which means that both could someday rupture together, resulting in a significantly more destructive earthquake than previously thought.
Source:- http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/09/earthquake-magnitude-4-4-rattles-south-bay/
