What are the Biggest Fault Lines in US? Any one of the fault lines in the United States could be the reason for an earthquake which could affect and/or destroy the lives of the people across the country. It might even affect many places across the globe. A great deal of America’s big cities lie on the Earthquake Fault Line. This means that a lot of earthquakes happen near this area. The placement of cities would have been very different had this knowledge been available before.
Science has helped mankind understand what are earthquakes and why do they occur. It is even possible to predict them. The number of victims or casualties is directly proportional to the level of technology of the affected community. In 2010, the earthquake in Chile caused only about 600 deaths in spite of being an earthquake with 8.8 magnitude. During the same year, a very weak earthquake hit Haiti. This cause about 200,000 deaths and injuries. This huge difference is could be due to the fact that the buildings were built of poor quality materials which resulted in the inhabitants being buried under their houses when it collapsed.
The Chile earthquake was caused due to the Peru–Chile Trench or the Atacama Trench which is known to be a significant fault line across the world. The Atacama has caused many earthquakes like the Iquique earthquake in 2014 which killed 5 and the Illapel earthquake of 2015 which caused the death of 14 people. Most of the biggest fault lines present in the Us have been quiet for the past few years. The United States Geological Society’s map keeps track of all the earthquakes across the world. The number of them happening on a daily basis is scary. Thankfully, most of them occur in uninhabited areas.
Alaska-Aleutian Megathrust, San Andreas Fault System, and Ramapo Fault are few of the biggest fault lines in the US. Alaska-Aleutian is the biggest fault line in the US which is shared with Russia. It has caused a 9.2 magnitude earthquake. San Andreas Fault System is famous as many scientists say that the next big earthquake could possibly be near here. This could cause great damage. The Ramapo Fault is important as it passes through New Jersey, a heavily populated state in the US, and through the Indian Point nuclear power point. You can check out the Biggest Fault Lines in the US here.
