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All offshore zone of faulting approximately 10 km from the southern California coast connects the seismically active strike-slip Newport-Inglewood fault zone in the Los Angeles metropolitan region with the active Rose Canyon fault zone in the San Diego area. Relatively little seismicity has been recorded along the offshore Newport-Inglewood Rose Canyon fault zone, although it has long been suspected of being seismogenic. Active low-angle thrust faults and Quaternary folds have been imaged by seismic reflection profiling along the offshore fault zone, raising the question of whether a through-going, active strike-slip fault zone exists. We applied a waveform cross-correlation algorithm to identify clusters of microseismicity consisting of similar events. Analysis of two clusters along the offshore fault zone shows that they are associated with nearly vertical, north-northwest-striking faults, consistent with an offshore extension of the Newport-Inglewood and Rose Canyon strike-slip fault zones. P-wave polarities from a 1981 event cluster are consistent with a right-lateral strike-slip focal mechanism solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faults in complex tectonic environments interact in various ways, including triggered rupture of one fault by another, that may increase seismic hazard in the surrounding region. We model static and dynamic fault interactions between the strike-slip and thrust fault systems in southern California. We find that rupture of the Sierra Madre-Cucamonga thrust fault system is unlikely to trigger rupture of the San Andreas or San Jacinto strike-slip faults. However, a large northern San Jacinto fault earthquake could trigger a cascading rupture of the Sierra Madre-Cucamonga system, potentially causing a moment magnitude 7.5 to 7.8 earthquake on the edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the crustal structure and tectonics from the Los Angeles basin to the Mojave Desert, southern California. Maximum depth of the Los Angeles basin; Formation of north dipping buttress by the Duarte branch of the Sierra Madre fault zone; Dip and depth extension of the San Andreas fault line.

Presents research which demonstrated that a significant component of seismic moment release and shortening in the Los Angeles, California, region is due to extrusion along known strike-slip and oblique-slip faults. Prevalence of thrust faults in the area; Use of Global Positioning System geodetic measurements.

Examines the effect of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake on geotechnical structures of the Van Norman Complex, the Los Angeles Reservoir and the Power Plant Tailrace in Los Angeles, California. Background on the reservoirs; Tectonic movement; Cracking of asphalt lining; Field observations on settlement, ground cracking and sand boils.