Last week’s earthquake story, “Rumbletown,” contained an inaccurate description of the geological event that caused the Jan. 9 quake. The fault line between the Gorda and Pacific plates did not slip vertically, as we had described; it slipped horizontally. The Journal regrets the error.
This article appears in Dog Fight.
Sorry to be such a fly in the ointment… but, your description still requires some modification. The fault that moved is NOT between the Gorda and Pacific plates. The January 9 earthquake was caused by left-lateral movement on a strike-slip fault WITHIN the Gorda plate. This produced about 2 meters of horizontal displacement. Movement on similar faults (within the Gorda plate) caused the Nov. 1980, two of the April 92, the Dec 94, and June 2005 earthquakes.
…and to be more precise, faults are not "lines" but planes or surfaces.
Thanks again for your interesting article