Piercing the San Andreas's Heart, But Missing a Vital Target

摘要

For the first time, drillers have retrieved rock from deep within an active fault where earthquakes can get a start, researchers announced last week. With a ton of rock core to take to the lab, excited scientists will be dissecting their haul for clues to how and why faults rupture in quakes. But the uncooperative San Andreas fault has frustrated drillers targeting their ultimate goal: a small patch of the fault that regularly breaks in tiny quakes.