Seismic activity in California appears to be heating up again.\u00a0 Could it be possible that the swarm of earthquakes that has hit San Francisco over the past couple of days is a precursor to a larger seismic event?\u00a0 The California coastline sits directly along the infamous \u201cRing of Fire\u201d, and scientists assure us that it is just a matter of time before \u201cthe Big One\u201d hits the state.\u00a0 Of course most of the time when we talk about \u201cthe Big One\u201d, most people immediately envision a geography-altering earthquake in southern California, and we have been warned repeatedly that such an event is coming someday.\u00a0 However, northern California is quite vulnerable as well, and a repeat of the horrific 1906 San Francisco earthquake is definitely not out of the question.\u00a0 Today, the real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area is some of the priciest in the entire nation, but much of that real estate could potentially be reduced to rubble in just a matter of moments.\u00a0 Millions of Californians are literally living on a ticking time bomb, and at some point time will run out.<\/span><\/p>\n Late on Monday, a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in the Bay Area made headlines all over the nation<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n A magnitude 4.5 earthquake was felt widely in the San Francisco Bay Area at 10:33 p.m. Monday, with the epicenter in the Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill areas.<\/span><\/p>\n A quake of that size is definitely newsworthy, and it was immediately followed by more than two dozen aftershocks<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Three foreshocks preceded the quake (the largest measuring 2.5) and 26 aftershocks followed, according to Keith Knudsen, deputy director of the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park.<\/span><\/p>\n But the USGS assured us that there was only \u201ca 2% chance<\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/a> that we would see an aftershock greater than magnitude 4.5 over the next seven days\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n The USGS said there was a 2% chance of one or more aftershocks larger than magnitude 4.5 over the next week, and as many as four aftershocks of magnitude 3 or higher. \u201cThe number of aftershocks will drop off over time, but a large aftershock can increase the numbers again, temporarily,\u201d the USGS said in its aftershock forecast<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n So what do you think happened next?<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, just a short while later the San Francisco Bay Area was hit by a magnitude 4.7 earthquake<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n A magnitude 4.7\u00a0earthquake shook the ground in Salinas<\/strong><\/span><\/a> around 12:42 p.m. local time\u00a0Tuesday, according to the\u00a0U.S. Geological Survey. It came hours after a\u00a0magnitude 4.5 quake hit the\u00a0San Francisco Bay Area.<\/span><\/p>\n So what should we make of the fact that the USGS has been dead wrong in their forecasts time after time?<\/span><\/p>\n Later on, seismologist Lucy Jones insisted that the two large quakes were not related<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n According to Dr. Lucy Jones, a southern California seismologist, Tuesday\u2019s quake is not connected to Monday\u2019s quake in San Francisco.<\/span><\/p>\n And she knows that how?<\/span><\/p>\n The truth is that the behavior of earthquakes remains a great mystery for our top scientists, and they really can\u2019t tell us what is going to happen in the future with any sort of accuracy whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n The \u201cexperts\u201d would have us believe that massive quakes like the one that struck San Francisco in 1906 happen \u201cabout every 200 years\u201d, but they don\u2019t really know.<\/span><\/p>\n To a large degree, many believe that all of this talk about \u201cearthquake intervals\u201d is just a bunch of nonsense.<\/span><\/p>\n But what everyone agrees on is that it is just a matter of time before more giant earthquakes rattle the state.\u00a0 The following description of the horrific 1906 earthquake comes from the official USGS website<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. Today, its importance comes more from the wealth of scientific knowledge derived from it than from its sheer size. Rupturing the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault from northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino, the earthquake confounded contemporary geologists with its large, horizontal displacements and great rupture length. Indeed, the significance of the fault and recognition of its large cumulative offset would not be fully appreciated until the advent of plate tectonics more than half a century later. Analysis of the 1906 displacements and strain in the surrounding crust led Reid (1910) to formulate his elastic-rebound theory of the earthquake source, which remains today the principal model of the earthquake cycle.<\/span><\/p>\n At almost precisely 5:12 a.m., local time, a foreshock occurred with sufficient force to be felt widely throughout the San Francisco Bay area. The great earthquake broke loose some 20 to 25 seconds later, with an epicenter near San Francisco. Violent shocks punctuated the strong shaking which lasted some 45 to 60 seconds. The earthquake was felt from southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and inland as far as central Nevada. The highest Modified Mercalli Intensities (MMI\u2019s) of VII to IX paralleled the length of the rupture, extending as far as 80 kilometers inland from the fault trace.<\/span><\/p>\n As our planet continues to become increasingly unstable<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, California will eventually be hit by much larger quakes than that.<\/span><\/p>\n Following the earthquakes that just struck San Francisco, some residents commented on social media that they had just gotten a preview of \u201cthe Big One\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n One person, Evie, wrote on the social media site: \u201cThat was the biggest earthquake I\u2019ve felt so far in California. Wow. A taste of what the \u2018big one\u2019 is going to be like. Pretty scary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Another local, Gary, said: \u201cThese earthquakes are becoming more frequent lately. We\u2019re due for the big one and I feel like it\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n No, actually the quakes that just happened are not even worth comparing to what \u201cthe Big One\u201d will be like someday.<\/span><\/p>\n According to the USGS<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake would release 2,818,382 as much energy as the magnitude 4.7 earthquake that we just witnessed.<\/span><\/p>\n So let\u2019s not get carried away.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, there have been more than 1,400 earthquakes<\/strong><\/span><\/a> in California and Nevada over the past seven days.\u00a0 At this point, that is considered to be a \u201cslow week\u201d for the region.<\/span><\/p>\n Hopefully things will settle down and we won\u2019t see any more significant quakes along the California coastline for a while.<\/span><\/p>\n But let there be no doubt that \u201cthe Big One\u201d is rapidly approaching, and it is just a matter of time before it happens.<\/span><\/p>\n About the author: Michael Snyder<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, The Beginning Of The End<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and Living A Life That Really Matters<\/a><\/strong><\/span>. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, End Of The American Dream<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and The Most Important News<\/strong><\/span><\/a>. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time. Of course the most important thing that we can share with people is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and if you would like to learn more about how you can become a Christian I would encourage you to read this article<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n