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Science 24 November 1978:
Vol. 202. no. 4370, pp. 883 - 885
DOI: 10.1126/science.202.4370.883
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Articles

Strain in Southern California: Measured Uniaxial North-South Regional Contraction

J. C. SAVAGE 1, W. H. PRESCOTT 1, M. LISOWSKI 1, and N. KING 1

1 U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025

The plate tectonics model of the Pacific moving northwest relative to North America implies that the regional strain in California should be simple shear across a vertical plane striking N45°W or equivalently equal parts of north-south contraction and east-west extension. Measurements of the strain accumulation at seven separate sites in southern California in the interval 1972 through 1978 indicate a remarkably consistent uniaxial north-south contraction of about 0.3 part per million per year; the expected east-west extension is absent. It is not clear whether the period from 1972 through 1978 is anomalous or whether the secular strain in southern California is indeed a uniaxial north-south contraction.

Submitted on June 9, 1978
Revised on August 8, 1978


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A broadband study of the 13 August 1978 Santa Barbara earthquake.
T. C. WALLACE, D. V. HELMBERGER, and J. E. EBEL (1981)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 71, 1701-1718
   Abstract »    PDF »
Stiffness method for anticipating earthquakes.
W. D. STUART (1981)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 71, 363-370
   Abstract »    PDF »
Strain on the San Andreas Fault Near Palmdale, California: Rapid, Aseismic Change.
J. C. Savage, J. C. SAVAGE, W. H. PRESCOTT, M. LISOWSKI, and N. E. KING (1981)
Science 211, 56-58
   Abstract »    PDF »


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