Orange County Register

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake broke just west of the Salton Sea at 7:24 p.m. on Tuesday, close to where a large swarm of small and mid-sized quakes occurred earlier this year, the US Geological Survey says. The quake started 1.7 miles beneath the surface, and seems to be associated with the southern San Andreas fault, a system that has the capacity to produce a catastrophic quake in Southern Califoria. The past two Great California ShakeOut drills were based on scenario quakes on the south San Andreas. That said, this small-to-moderate activity could represent routine releasing of pressure on the San Andreas, making it less likely to erupt into a large event.

Live SoCal quake map |Animation of last week’s quakes

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