Fault Creep for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMLXXXI

Garlock Fault

We've noticed – on many occasions – that the average internet freelance writer appears to have only a passing familiarity with STEM topics. Over the years we've seen surprisingly stupid math errors, incorrectly defined scientific terminology, and technical jargon sprayed across the content without regard for context. We're convinced that this occurs for a simple reason: those freelancers had no idea what they were talking about. Today's nominee is a freelancer who penned a "news" article for the folks at Sciencing.com; but careful reading by someone with basic knowledge of the science revealed that Rachelle Dragani was a little shaky on the science behind "A Fault Line in California is Creeping - Is The Big One Coming?"

The title itself reveals Dragani's ignorance of her topic: a couple of earth science courses, or even a geometry course, should be enough to show that it is not a "fault line" that is creeping, but that creep is occurring along a fault plane. Faults don't move; the rock bodies on either side of them move. The definition of fault creep is slow movement along a fault plane; movement that does not result in an earthquake.

Rachelle had some other strange things to say, such as this line about aftershocks on the Garlock Fault in southern California:

"For the next three weeks, a series of more than 110,000 aftershocks ruptured through the area..."

Wait, what? "Ruptured through"? Even if she misspelled "rumbled," the vast majority of the aftershocks were too weak for humans to notice: "ruptured" indeed. And then there's this line:

"...all those aftershocks put extreme pressure on an area known as the Garlock fault, which is in the Mojave Desert."

The Garlock Fault isn't an "area" any more than the Santa Monica Freeway is an "area." It is a structural feature in the crust of Southern California. Or how about this "big" revelation:

"Creeping isn’t new – it’s happened before along the San Andreas Fault, and didn’t trigger an earthquake."

That's kind of the point of fault creep: it's aseismic, which means that it doesn't involve earthquakes.

We prefer that before freelancers attempt to tackle technical topics they learn enough to ground themselves in the science behind what they're writing. Our model for this sort of preparation is well-known author Mary Roach. Rachelle, however, is no Mary; and that's why we're here to name Ms Dragani our Dumbass of the Day... for the seventh time.

SI - STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY