CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Scientists Detected No Quake Warnings

U.S. Geological Survey scientists said the October earthquake in the Bay Area was “not encouraging” for scientists who hope someday to be able to provide warnings of major temblors. A major earthquake should reveal through various precursors that it is about to strike, scientists have theorized. But William Prescott of the Geological Survey said “there was nothing that we could clearly identify” as a precursor of the Oct. 17 quake. Prescott spoke at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.