Mention earthquakes in California, and it's not uncommon for the discussion to involve the “Big One”—a major earthquake expected to occur along the San Andreas fault line at some unknown time.
The recent earthquake in northern California did not occur along the San Andreas fault line, but rather along the West Napa fault, says Harold Magistrale, senior lead research specialist at FM Global. “It's not the San Andreas proper,” he says, “but it's part of the San Andreas system. It's part of the plate boundary between North America and Pacific plates.”
He adds, “It has same sense of slip; the same kind of motion that the San Andreas fault has.”
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