Two earthquakes suddenly strike California Sunday morning

Two earthquakes suddenly struck California early Sunday morning, felt by communities across the South Bay and beyond.

A 3.5-magnitude quake hit shortly after 7:20 a.m., followed by a 2.6-magnitude tremor about 20 minutes later, with shaking reportedly felt from San Jose to Walnut Creek, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The back-to-back quakes come amid a recent uptick in seismic activity across California, including a series of small earthquakes that rattled Southern California in recent weeks.

More than 60 low-magnitude earthquakes were recorded across the region during one recent Saturday, with most registering below magnitude 2.0, according to the USGS.

The activity has included several quakes around the Los Angeles area.

A magnitude-3.1 earthquake struck near Compton on Sept. 17, with the shaking felt in Long Beach, Downey and Paramount. That quake followed a magnitude-3.2 temblor near Compton earlier in the month.

Other recent earthquakes have struck farther south and offshore, including a pair of quakes southeast of Catalina Island that hit within minutes of each other.

A separate magnitude-3.4 earthquake also shook parts of the San Francisco Bay Area during the same weekend.

While the latest earthquakes were relatively small, they come as scientists continue to warn about the potential for a much larger earthquake along California’s major fault systems.

Caltech seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones has warned that the San Andreas Fault is capable of producing a catastrophic major earthquake, while emphasizing that scientists cannot predict exactly when such an event will occur.

Jones has previously modeled a magnitude-7.8 rupture along the southern San Andreas Fault, a scenario that could produce prolonged and destructive shaking across Southern California.

The simulations indicate that such an event could severely disrupt transportation, water infrastructure and other critical systems across the region.

Research from the University of Bern has also examined seismic stress around the Cajon Pass, where the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults meet.

Researchers have described the area as a potential “earthquake gate,” studying whether a future rupture could spread across both fault systems.

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