New Study Shows Two Active Fault Lines That Meet Beneath Salt Lake City

According to a new geological study, there are two active fault lines that appear to connect underneath Salt Lake City.

FOX 13 Salt Lake City reported that the fault lines have the potential to cause more damage than scientists previously thought.

According to scientists, Utah has a 50 percent risk of a large, damaging earthquake along the Wasatch Fault in the next 50 years.

Boise State University's Lee Liberty told Fox 13, "It’s been an outstanding question in the world of earthquakes: What happens when one fault ends and another one begins?"

To find the fault, scientists took an ultrasound of the earth underneath SLC and "generated mini-earthquakes to learn how the ground has moved in the last 10,0000 years."

Utah Geological Survey geologist Adam McKean said, "There might be more faults underneath the city that we weren't aware of."

Lee said, "One thing we learned is that these faults are connected beneath Salt Lake City, but they are connected between other fault segments. That is another place for a potentially elevated seismic hazard or earthquakes."

This means that a large earthquake could cause the ground to be permanently deformed, splitting apart and risking severe building damage on the surface.

Scientists say that even moderate earthquakes could cause liquefaction, which means the soil acts as a liquid and causes massive damages to buildings.

McKean said, "Be prepared for something we know is going to happen, we don't know when it is going to happen."