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Old Photos Help Scientists Relocate 1906 San Francisco Quake Rupture Point

Geoscientists using every resource available to them — from bare-earth LIDAR technology to knowledge of turn-of-the-century fashion — have helped correct a 100-year-old mistake about where the San Andreas Fault rupture point was for the historic 1906 earthquake.

Braving poison oak and complicated earthquake policy, scientists spent years trying to locate California’s Portola Valley and finally succeeded courtesy of old photos. Read how the San Andreas Fault was rediscovered in the December issue of EARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/1laTaOoM.

For the complete year-end edition of EARTH Magazine, including stories on how mega-quakes sank volcanoes in Chile and Japan, big changes from small glacial floods, and how geology is beer’s secret ingredient, subscribe to EARTH Magazine at http://www.earthmagazine.org/diaital.

Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and the environment news with EARTH magazine online at www.earthmagazine.org. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.