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UC Berkeley Seismological Laboratory
215 McCone Hall #4760
Berkeley CA 94720-4760

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The Berkeley Seismological Laboratory conducts research on earthquake processes and earth structure,
provides timely and accurate earthquake information to a variety of public and private agencies,
and assists in the education of students and the public in earthquake science.


Map of recent earthquake swarms near the Calaveras Fault
1868 Hayward Earthquake Alliance

More information on current earthquakes in California...

NEW! Reconnaissance Report (video) on the Sichuan Earthquake (May 12, 2008)

BSL and LLNL research on Crandall Mine Collapse to appear in Science Brevia(LLNL press release)

From the USGS: Forecasting Earthquakes - What Can We Expect in the Next 30 Years? (PDF)

See the earthquake preparedness video for undergraduate students on the UC Berkeley campus. This video was put together by students in a Freshman Seminar given by Prof. Richard Allen and Barbara Romanowicz.


The focus of the earthquake which was widely felt in the Bay Area shortly after 9 pm on Friday night was located about 10 miles below Alamo (large purple circle). Among seismologists this upscale East Bay community is known as a frequent source of temblors. Located along the Calaveras Fault, which roughly parallels Interstate 680, Alamo hosts a type of earthquake which is rather unique for the Bay Area. Over the decades several intense earthquake swarms occured in this area, the last one in 1990 (green circles). One of the characteristics of swarm earthquakes is that they are not dominated by one main shock and dozens of aftershocks. Instead an earthquake swarm consists of hunderds of similar temblors, which can continue to shake an area over weeks or even months. It is not yet clear whether Friday's quake with its magnitude of 4.0 is part of a swarm or not. Within the first hour after its occurrence, only one other quake happened under Alamo, an "aftershock" of magnitude 1.3. The 9 pm quake was the strongest temblor in the Bay Area since the earthquake sequence at Alum Rock near San Jose in the Fall of 2007. Current information about California quakes






Berkeley Seismological Lab
215 McCone Hall, UC Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-4760
www@seismo.berkeley.edu

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Last modified: Sat Sep 6 12:09:13 PDT 2008