Seismic Expert Looking Into Recent Swarms Of Quakes

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — UC Riverside researcher Dr. Christos Kyriakopoulos is interested in what's happening east of Los Angeles near the Salton Sea.

Kyriakopoulos took notice of a cluster of 20 small quakes that hit the area Monday morning. The largest was a magnitude 3.5. However, swarm activity is very common, he says.

"We do not know if it will trigger a bigger event but we can't exclude it," Kyriakopoulos said.

In September, a couple hundred quakes hit around the same area past Coachella Valley, and Kyriakopoulos has been keeping an eye the activity.

These swarms are energy being released around the faults.

Kyriakopoulos is also interested in what's happening in countries like Italy, where earthquakes have devastated areas and lives there.

"We can apply this knowledge to better understand the seismic cycle in California," Kyriakopoulos.

Experts can not predict an earthquake and urge us all to be prepared.