5.4 Ridgecrest Earthquake Unrelated to Nearby Coso Volcanoes, Scientists Say
Scientists from Caltech and the U.S. Geological Survey said Friday that the magnitude 5.4 earthquake that struck in Kern and Inyo counties Thursday afternoon was centered in the Airport Lake Fault zone within the sprawling China Lake Naval Weapons Center. They described it as a conventional strike-slip earthquake unrelated to the nearby Coso volcanoes.
One man in Ridgecrest, 11 miles south of the epicenter, suffered a minor foot injury when he was struck by a falling object. There were at least nine aftershocks of magnitude 3.0 or larger.
Egill Hauksson, a Caltech seismologist, said the earthquake was the strongest in the immediate vicinity in at least 60 years, although there was a 5.2 quake in the same locale in 1982.
The quake was the strongest recorded in California this year and was distinctly felt in the San Joaquin Valley and as far south as Orange County.
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