Several factors have led to the question of whether the Santa Clarita Valley is on a fault line. These factors include the first documented discovery of gold in California, high crime rates, and a large fault zone in the area.
Calaveras fault
Located just east of the East Bay Hills, the Calaveras Fault is part of the San Andreas Fault system. Calaveras is also the name of a county located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The fault runs from Hollister to Danville. It is one of the most active fault systems in California and is known to produce large earthquakes. Historically, the Calaveras fault has produced a number of magnitude 6 quakes.
The USGS is investigating the source of a 5.1-magnitude earthquake that hit San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday. The USGS reported a four-mile deep epicenter and said it likely was located along the Calaveras Fault zone.
The largest earthquake to hit California in the last century was a magnitude 6.2 quake that struck near Morgan Hill in 1984. The biggest earthquake in the Bay Area in the last 100 years was a magnitude 7.1 quake that struck in Ridgecrest in 2006.
The fault system runs beneath many neighborhoods in the Bay Area. It is the fastest-moving fault in California and its relative motions are similar to those of the San Andreas. However, there are fewer cities on the fault.
Palos Verdes fault zone
Until recently, scientists believed that the Palos Verdes fault zone consisted of a series of small faults. However, new studies suggest that the fault system is actually one, interconnected fault line. The fault system could produce an earthquake as strong as the magnitude 7.8 quake that hit southern California in 1857.
The fault zone is located along the coast of Los Angeles and Orange counties. It is known to have produced several small tremors in recent years. In fact, the magnitude 2 to 3 tremors that recently occurred are believed to have occurred within the fault zone.
The fault system extends from the Santa Monica Mountains to the Sierra Nevada. It runs under Los Angeles and Long Beach. Its surface area is larger than the San Andreas Fault system. The fault system could generate an earthquake with similar magnitude to the San Andreas Fault. It could destroy thousands of buildings and kill hundreds of thousands of people.
The Palos Verdes fault zone is a northwest-southeast trending fault. It is characterized by the presence of offsets along its ancestral Los Angeles River.
First documented discovery of gold in California
Despite the fact that the first documented discovery of gold in Santa Clarita, California took place six years before the famous gold rush, the story of the discovery is largely lost in history. It is primarily remembered by Mexican citizens living in the area at the time.
In 1842, Francisco Lopez y Arbello was a mineralogist working as a cattle inspector in Santa Barbara. He had studied mining in Sonora, Mexico. In the course of his work, he spotted small pieces of gold clinging to the roots of wild onions.
Lopez, along with Manuel Cota and Domingo Bermudez, made the discovery in Placerita Canyon. They were searching for stray cattle. They also noticed that wild onions growing nearby were covered with gold flakes. They dug around the roots with a knife and found that they were also encrusted in gold.
It was a lucky find. The three men were able to extract samples from the gold sands, which they later shipped to Los Angeles merchant Abel Stearns.
High crime rates
Whether you’re moving to Santa Clarita, CA or simply looking to visit, it’s important to know how safe you can expect the city to be. Santa Clarita is well known for its safe communities, friendly residents, and family-friendly activities.
In the past five years, crime has decreased by 16 percent in Santa Clarita. The city has a lower overall crime rate than most of the state of California, and it has lower rates for violent crime and property crimes.
Santa Clarita is safe, and it’s ranked among the top safest cities in California. It’s in the 41st percentile nationally for safety, but it’s still not completely free of crime.
A number of factors contribute to high crime rates. One of the most common is poverty. People who are poor often don’t have the resources they need to make legal choices. This means they are more likely to turn to crime for support. It’s important to address these issues in order to improve the quality of life for all residents.
