Creeping Hayward Fault might ease quake tension

[Charles]

The Hayward Fault is creeping, and that could be a good sign.

Along many segments of the fault, from the hills of Oakland's
Montclair Village to the Chapel of the Chimes in Union City,
scientists have been busy this week measuring the fault's tiny
underground motions to learn more about that most dangerous of all the
seismic strands that run through the Bay Area.

That they found the ground creeping means that seismic strain on the
fault segment is slowly being released, lowering the chances that a
major quake is near.

<more>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/16/BARP1A5N88.DTL

[Hatunen]

That release doesn't aquare well with the final paragraph:

Despite the evidence of creep, the Hayward Fault is rated the
most dangerous of all the faults in the Bay Area. The most recent
estimates for the probability of large quakes in Northern
California gives the Hayward Fault, combined with the Rodgers
Creek Fault, its northern extension, a 1-in-3 chance of a quake
with a magnitude at least 6.7 coming within the next 30 years.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
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