Los Angeles was hit with a 4.4-magnitude earthquake on Monday, which Southern California's leading seismologist warns is part of a growing trend of increased earthquake activity.
"2024 has had more earthquakes than any year we've seen since 1988," Dr. Lucy Jones, a geophysicist and researcher at Caltech, said in an interview with KTLA-TV on Tuesday.
Southern California has averaged 10 to 12 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater per year since 1931, but Jones highlights that the past 20 years have seen an average of just five quakes that strong annually.
With a little over three months left in 2024, the region has witnessed 13 quakes measuring 4.0 or greater.
"So, this is an active year, much like we used to see," Jones said. "It does seem like we should expect this to continue at a higher rate."
Monday's quake was centered near Los Angeles' Highland Park neighborhood and occurred along the Puente Hills thrust fault system, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
While it didn't cause considerable damage, it happened less than a week after a 5.2-magnitude quake near Bakersfield, which also vibrated across Southern California.
"The most constant feature of earthquakes is the relative number of large to small," she said.
"For every magnitude seven, you have 10 magnitude sixes, 100 magnitude fives, 1,000 magnitude fours, etc. So, if your rate of [magnitude] fours goes up, your chance of having a bigger one would go up by about the same amount."
In simpler terms, Jones says more earthquakes mean more earthquakes.
