Stress evolution and earthquake triggering in southern California

Accumulative changes in stress in southern California are computed from 1812 to 2025 using as input (1) stress drops associated with 36 moderate to great earthquakes through 1995 and (2) stress buildup associated with major faults with slip rates {dollar}geq{dollar}3 mm/yr as constrained by geodetic, paleoseismic and seismic measurements. All calculations are performed for an elastic half-space with respect to an arbitrary zero baseline in 1812 before the Wrightwood earthquake on the San Andreas fault. Evolution of stress and the triggering of small to large earthquakes are treated in a tensorial rather than a scalar manner. Calculations show a magnitude-independent correlation between events in a variety of timescales during 1812 and 1995 and the cumulative Coulomb Failure Function ({dollar}Delta{dollar}CFF) as a function of time. During the period 1812-1994, most known {dollar}Mgeq6{dollar} earthquakes whose mechanisms involve either strike-slip or reverse faulting are consistent with the Coulomb stress evolutionary model, i.e., they occurred in areas of positive {dollar}Delta{dollar}CFF. About 85% of {dollar}Mgeq5{dollar} earthquakes between 1932 and 1995 are also located in areas of positive changes in stress. Between 1981 and 1992 before the Landers earthquakes, dominant number of strike-slip events occurred at regions where stress is about 1 MPa above the 1812 baseline. Maps of current {dollar}Delta{dollar}CFF provide additional guides to long-term earthquake prediction. In the future, many earthquakes will continue to occur in areas of positive changes in stress. Future great earthquakes along the San Andreas fault, especially if the San Bernardino and Coachella Valley segments rupture together, can trigger moderate to large earthquakes in the Transverse Ranges, as appears to have happened in the Santa Barbara earthquake that occurred 13 days after the great San Andreas shock of 1812.