Parkfield experiment

A particularly elaborate study of possible earthquake indicators is being conducted in the USA on a 25-km-long stretch of the San Andreas Fault. The Parkfield Experiment has been running since 1985, using various instruments to measure what happens before, during and after a quake near a fault line. The San Andreas Fault is considered a suitable area to study because minor quakes are very frequent, and every 22 years (on average) an earthquake with a magnitude of 6 or more occurs there. Continuous monitoring over so many years has generated a comprehensive dataset that is being analysed by scientists the whole world over and revealing a great deal about earthquake processes. However, so far no reliable mechanism for predicting earthquakes has been found.