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USGS Research geophysicist Gerald Bawden uses a Lidar or laser-based camera system than allows him to create 3-D area scans of the Parkfield Coalinga Bridge crossing over the San Andreas Fault in Parkfield, CA, so he can monitor the shift between the two sides of the bridge over time. Surveying shows a drift at the rate of as much as 2 inches per year. The town of Parkfield, located on the San Andreas Fault in central California, is one of the world’s most seismically active areas. It has been the site of an intensive earthquake study since the late 1970's and a team of scientists recently reached the fault’s active zone through a 2-mile deep borehole. This project, named SAFOD, is a major step in learning more about earthquakes and maybe predicting them.
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