Study Finds Conditions Ripe For Major Quake Along San Andreas Fault

CALIPATRIA, CA - JULY 02: Carbon dioxide gas escaping from underground fissures bubbles up from geothermal mudpots, or ''boiling mud pots'', near the southern end of the San Andreas Fault at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge on July 2, 2006 near Calipatria, California. The mudpots which only are to be boiling hot are located over the Salton Sea Geothermal Field where temperatures measured in wells drilled for geothermal brines reach 360 degrees Celsius at depths of 1,500 to 2,500 meters. Scientists have warned that the southern end of the 800-mile-long San Andreas fault north and east of Los Angeles has built up immense pressure and could produce a massive earthquake at any time. Such a quake could produce a sudden lateral movement of 23 to 32 feet which would be would be among the largest ever recorded. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)