The San Simeon Earthquake was a magnitude 6.5 earthquake on the Central Coast of California, about 7 miles northeast of San Simeon. It occurred at 11:15 AM on December 22, 2003. The earthquake probably occurred on the Oceanic fault zone in the Santa Lucia Mountains. It was caused by reverse faulting and propogated southeast from the hypocenter for 12 miles. An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the dynamic release of stored energy that radiates seismic waves. ... San Simeon (ZIP Code: 93452) is a settlement on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California notable in two respects: Its position along Cabrillo Hwy is almost precisely halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, each of those towns being roughly 230 mi (370 km) away. ... The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a mountain range in coastal California, running from Monterey southeast for 170 km to San Luis Obispo. ... The hypocenter or hypocentre (literally: below the center from the Greek υπόκεντρον), also known as the focus, is the location inside the Earth where an earthquake originates. ...

The area around the epicenter is sparsely populated and the most severe damage occurred in Paso Robles, 24 miles east-northeast, where the earthquake's only fatalities occurred. The Acorn Building, an unreinforced masonry building built in 1892, completely collapsed, killing two people. Other unreinforced masonry buildings, some more than a century old, in the city's historic downtown area also had extensive damage. However, none of the buildings that had even partial retrofitting collapsed. The epicenter is directly above the earthquakes focus. ... Paso Robles (full name: El Paso de Robles) is a city located in San Luis Obispo County, California. ... A brick wall built using the Flemish Bond Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Two sulfur hot springs in Paso Robles erupted after the earthquake. One was underneath the parking lot of City Hall. Hot water and sediment were released at a rate of about 1,300 gallons per minute, forming a large sinkhole. There was formerly a bath house at the location and the spring was capped after it closed down. Another hot spring flowed out of the embankment at the Paso Robles Road exit on U.S. Highway 101. Green Dragon Spring at Norris Geyser A hot spring is a place where warm or hot groundwater issues from the ground on a regular basis for at least a predictable part of the year, and is significantly above the ambient ground temperature (which is usually around 55~57 F or... Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. ... Devils Hole near Hawthorne, Florida Sinkholes, also known as sinks, dolines (in the Slovene language doline means valleys), and cenotes, are formed by the collapse of cave roofs and are a feature of landscapes that are based on limestone bedrock. ... A bath house is a place where people bathe. ... U.S. Highway 101, or U.S. Route 101 (U.S. 101), is a north-south highway that is aligned along the Pacific West Coast of the United States. ...

Outside of Paso Robles the damage was less severe, with unreinforced masonry buildings taking minor to moderate damage. Brick veneers were also disproportionately affected. In addition, water tanks in Paso Robles, Templeton and Los Osos were damaged. Residential buildings, predominately one to two story wood frame structures, weathered the quake with little or no damage. The damage that did occur was mostly limited to chimneys, although a house in Atascadero suffered severe damage when it moved off of its foundation. The damage was probably caused by poor construction. There were fewer nails connecting the plywood siding to the sill than is required and many of them did not actually hit the sill. Some wineries, especially those near the epicenter along California Highway 46, reported damage such as barrels toppling and bursting. A weathered brick wall. ... Water tanks are used to store water. ... Templeton is a census-designated place located in San Luis Obispo County, California. ... Los Osos is an unincorporated community located in western San Luis Obispo County, California. ... A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ... Atascadero is a city located in San Luis Obispo County, California, half way between San Francisco and Los Angeles. ... Model constructed from plywood. ... Wine Barrels A winery is a facility where fruit, usually grapes, is processed into wine. ... California State Route 46, is an east-west highway from the Pacific coast of California at Cambria, California through the western part of the southern San Joaquin Valley, intersecting California State Highway 99 about five miles east of Wasco It has an interchange with Interstate 5 near Lost Hills. ...

References

• California Integrated Seismic Network
• Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (PDF)
• United States Geological Survey

External links

• Cal Poly
• University of California, Berkeley