Visualizing the Ridgecrest Earthquake

The LA Times has created a number of animated satellite images to show the immense power of the recent Ridgecrest earthquakes. On the 4th and 5th of July a series of earthquakes occurred north and northeast of the town of Ridgecrest, California. The largest of which had a magnitude of 7.1.

The Los Angeles Times has combined before and after satellite imagery of the desert to show the effect that the earthquake has left on the land. By simply comparing satellite imagery from Google Earth, taken before the Ridgecrest earthquake, with DigitalGlobe satellite imagery of the same area, taken after the earthquake struck, the LA Times has created a powerful visualization of the force of the earthquake.

In this series of before & after images created by the newspaper you can clearly see how the land on either side of the fault line has been forced in different directions. The fact that the earthquake struck in the desert, in an area with little vegetation or earth cover, has enabled the LA Times to create a stunning series of images which portray the sheer force of seismic activity and the effect it can have on the land.