California city’s curb fix disappoints earthquake scientists

U.S. Geological Survey research geologist David Schwartz looks at a curb has been pulled apart over the decades by the powerful seismic forces of the Hayward fault on June 7, 2016 in Hayward, Calif. Since at least the 1970s, scientists have painstakingly photographed the curb as the Hayward fault pushed it farther and farther out of alignment. (Rong-Gong Lin II/Los Angeles Times via AP) U.S. Geological Survey research geologist David Schwartz looks at a curb has been pulled apart over the decades by the powerful seismic forces of the Hayward fault on June 7, 2016 in Hayward, Calif. Since at least the 1970s, scientists have painstakingly photographed the curb as the Hayward fault pushed it farther and farther out of alignment. (Rong-Gong Lin II/Los Angeles Times via AP)

By Associated Press July 6, 2016 2 min read

HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) – A faulty curb that perfectly illustrated the seismic forces at work underneath a San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood has been fixed, stunning scientists, who say a curbside laboratory for studying earthquakes was destroyed.

The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/29og8Yp ) that since at least the 1970s, scientists have painstakingly photographed the curb as the Hayward fault pushed it farther and farther out of alignment.

“They really took it out. Wow,” David Schwartz, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist, said when he clicked on a photo of the curb’s destruction. “It really was an iconic location on the Hayward fault.”

The newspaper reports it was an ever-present reminder that someday, a massive earthquake would strike directly beneath one of the most heavily populated areas in Northern California.

Hayward officials say they didn’t know the significance for geologists when they fixed the curb last month.