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Cause of the Earthquake:

In this area the Pacific plate moves northwest in relation to the North American plate at approximately 45 mm per year. This has led to deformations within the Earth's crust causing elastic strain energy to be stored.

In this specific case it is thought that the sudden rupture / movement of a strike slip / transform fault has caused the earthquake.

More specifically, the earthquake is thought to have occurred on the southern portion of the Laguna Salada fault, which is part of a series of northwest trending strike slip faults that run parallel to (but are not part of) the San Andreas fault zone.

However it should be noted that the area is tectonically complex with a large number of faults. As such investigations are underway and it may be found that another of the local faults caused the earthquake.

Magnitude:

According to the US Geological Survey the magnitude of the earthquake was 7.2.

Location of Epicentre:

The earthquake oocured aproximately 40 miles south of the US border along the plate boundary between the North American and PAcific plates. The exact location has been pinpointed as 32.128°N, 115.303°W.

Depth to hypocentre:

Shallow - 10 km deep.

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