Dr. Lucy Jones Center

@dljcss.bsky.social

The Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science & Society, founded by seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones, fosters the understanding & application of scientific information.

Only the Rialto events are aftershocks to the July 31 M4.3. The Lytle Creek events are near the San Andreas but not necessarily on it. We often see small events around the San Andreas but some analyses suggest they are on small faults not the main surface that will move in the big quakes.

In the last 24 hours, we have seen several M3s in 3 locations. The events near Ontario are at the western end of the Fontana trend. The Lytle Creek events are near the San Andreas & the Rialto events are where the Fontana trend intersects the San Andreas. Last week's M4.3 was at the Rialto location

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Looks like a small swarm in the Fontana trend. This M4.2 had a few foreshcoks including a M3.0. The Fontana trend is a NE-striking lineation of earthquakes under the sediments of the San Bernardino Vslley. We believe it is one of the left-lateral striking faults that are south of the San Gabriels.

Caltech Quake Bot@caltechquake.bsky.social · last yr.

#AutoEQ A magnitude 4.2 (MI) #earthquake has occurred 4 mi W of Muscoy, CA at 09:32 PDT Jul 31, 2025 [2025-07-31 16:32 UTC]. #SCSN has not yet confirmed this event. For more info visit http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci41249496#executive

I’m seeing lots of questions about whether the rate of great earthquakes is changing or whether climate change affects earthquakes. The answer is no. The long term rate of these big events is about 1/decade. But the distribution is random. The last one was 2011 in Japan

In addition to many M7+ earthquakes, this boundary has also hosted half a dozen M8+ earthquakes. Red circles mark the epicenter above the site where fault rupture began, and yellow shows the area on the megathrust fault that ruptured.

I once had a M2.7 directly under my house that felt so strong I went to work without waiting for a page (in pre-Internet days). It's a good reminder that how strong the shaking feels has much more to do with how close you are to the event. Duration of shaking is better for guessing magnitude.

A new study outlines the flooding risk from a magnitude 9 quake along the 700-mile Cascadia fault line.@drlucyjones.bsky.social explains that while we could still see damage for coastal areas, the fault line is offshore, so the heaviest shaking would be underwater. Watch her full interview on ABC7:

Could monster 9.0-magnitude earthquake sink part of CA's coastal communities?

Could a monster earthquake sink a portion of Northern California? A new study calculates the risk of where and how much land could sink, but experts say there's something else closer to home that we s...

abc7.com

I've partnered with OcTech, Caltech's choral octet, to create Courage To Care: a concert & discussion to process climate angst in a time of historic fires. If you're in SoCal, come build community with us! Sunday, April 27th, 7:30 PM Dabney Lounge on the Caltech campus Tickets: No tickets - free!

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Earthquake Early Warning requires estimating the magnitude from the first few seconds on just a few stations. It is always very rough but lets us get out something quickly. There is a lot of variation between locations. The final magnitude averages 100+ stations and is always more accurate

@mons-t.bsky.social · 2y ago

Out of curiosity, why was it first projected so high at 6.7 and then 6.0, only to be downgraded to 5.2? Felt it pretty strong here in Long Beach so we def thought it made more sense with the initial numbers stated.

Today's M5.2 is the largest quake near the Elsinore fault since I came to California in 1983. But there were quite a few M4s along the way. A junior sibling to the San Andreas, the Elsinore is long enough to have given us some bigger events

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I was proud to be a federal scientist at the USGS for 33 years. "Earth science in the public service" meant I could focus on creating and explaining science for public officials and providing public education, not just educating students at one university. theconversation.com/us-earthquak...

US earthquake safety relies on federal employees’ expertise

The US experiences violent earthquakes, but the damage and death toll is much lower than in many countries because of the work of federal seismologists and engineers.

theconversation.com

#AirTalk with Larry Mantle celebrates 40 years on air, with leading voices joining to help listeners better understand the many facets of L.A.—from science to politics to history. Hear from guests, including seismologist @drlucyjones.bsky.social in this special episode: laist.com/shows/airtal...

40 years of AirTalk

Today on AirTalk, we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the very first live airing of AirTalk with Larry Mantle. Join us on a journey through the ages as we look back at the show's history and ho...

laist.com

After the fires, the only person I wanted to talk to was @drlucyjones.bsky.social. I was so thrilled to be able to sit down with her for this interview for Dwell. Our conversation about LA's future was, at times, painfully honest — but ultimately very hopeful

“We’re Going to Have Something Worse”: What Dr. Lucy Jones Says Will Make L.A. More Fire Resilient

The city’s seismologist turned climate disaster expert wants better building codes but isn’t waiting around for them.

dwell.com

Quakes cause shaking at a range of frequencies. The lowest frequencies are controlled by the length of the fault that moves in the quake. A 400km long fault creates longer wave length (lower frequency) waves than a 10km long fault. So all quakes produce hi frequencies but only big quakes have low.