The USGS reported that, over the past several days, a sequence of at least five earthquakes shook California, with magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.3. The most recent, a 3.3 magnitude quake, struck near Tres Pinos in San Benito County Saturday morning at a depth of 4 miles.

Learn about the movement of tectonic plates off the coast of northern California, a process that could incite major earthquakes.

Focusing on an area off the coast of Crescent City, California, the researchers used autonomous and remotely operated vehicles to get detailed views of the slope and sediment deposits. They also used sediment cores from the region to radiocarbon-date the turbidite deposits and compare their timing to the dates of known ancient Cascadia quakes.

Tremors beneath Northern California show hidden plate movement, helping scientists better understand where future big earthquakes may occur.

Most of the recorded glacial earthquakes were discovered along the coast of Greenland, the largest ice cap in the Northern Hemisphere. Although scientists assumed that glacial earthquakes take place in Antarctica as well, they have been much harder to detect because they are of much lower magnitude than those that occur in Greenland.

A small town in California was hit by earthquakes once every 22 years for over a century, setting the stage for a major seismic experiment in the 1980s and 90s. But the quake ended up being 11 years late.

Instead, the most prolific period of glacial earthquakes at Thwaites, between 2018 and 2020, coincides with a period of accelerated flow of the glacier’s ice tongue towards the sea. The ice-tongue speed-up period was independently confirmed by satellite observations.

Shaking caused by quakes may cause ocean floor vents to release more nutrients, triggering blooms in plant-like organisms called phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean