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Machine learning helped demystify a California earthquake swarm

New data show the spread of the tiny quakes through complex fault networks over time

seismograph image

By training computers to identify tiny earthquake signals recorded by seismographs, scientists found that circulating groundwater probably triggered a four-year-long earthquake swarm in Southern California.

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By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

Circulating groundwater triggered a four-year-long swarm of tiny earthquakes that rumbled beneath the Southern California town of Cahuilla, researchers report in the June 19 Science.