California's 'Big One' Could Be A Volcanic Eruption
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX/AP) – California's next 'big one' may not be an earthquake. According to a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey, a future volcanic eruption is not only inevitable, hundreds of thousands of people are in harm's way.
The 50-page report, California's Exposure to Volcanic Hazards, released Monday, assigns threat levels to eight volcanoes in California — moderate, high, and very high. Most of them are located in the northern and central part of the state.
Researchers say nearly 200,000 people live, work or pass through California's volcanic hazard zones on a daily basis, and there's a 16 percent probability of an eruption in the next 30 years.
The scientists based the prediction on the amount of volcanism over the last three-thousand, or so, years.
