Salton Sea Earthquake Swarm Isn't a Sign of 'the Big One'

Salton Sea earthquakes that swarmed the southern California area near the San Andreas Fault on Monday were likely not a sign that "the big one" is coming soon, a former seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Lucy Jones tweeted about the temblors, saying that there have been swarms of earthquakes in the area before without bigger ones. She added in one message that the swarm increased the changes of a larger earthquake "a little bit."

Today's EQs in Salton Sea are near (not on) the southern San Andreas which make them interesting. We've seen M4s here before in 2001 & 2009

— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) September 26, 2016

Today's Salton EQs in the extensional zone south of San Andreas. Extensional faults more likely to produce swarms.

— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) September 27, 2016

M4s near San Andreas increase chance of big EQ by a little bit. But we have swarms without big EQ - most likely nothing more will happen

— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) September 27, 2016

Many of the earthquakes happened near the Salton Sea's Bombay Beach, the Los Angeles Times reported, adding that the USGS said the quakes were felt in a small area around the sea.

Previous earthquake swarms in the area happened in 2001 and 2009. The earthquake swarm in 2009 stretched over two days, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported. More than 110 earthquakes were connected with Monday's swarm, with more than a dozen measuring 2.5 or larger with three as high as 4.0 in magnitude, the Desert Sun noted.

The Salton Sea sits on top of a thin crust that is being stretched as the North American and Pacific plates grind against each other, the Times noted. The area is "veined" by dozens of faults along the San Andreas, which all run parallel to and crisscross one another.

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