Super-intense earthquakes more prevalent, some scientists say. Does it heighten San Andreas risk?

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A specific type of earthquake that can cause particularly intense shaking is more common than previously believed, some scientists say — carrying potentially profound risk for communities across California, including those in the path of the notorious San Andreas fault.

Scientists have increasingly observed how the rupturing of a fault during an earthquake can be even faster than the speed of another type of damaging seismic wave, theoretically generating energy on the level of a sonic boom.

These shock waves — created during “supershear” earthquakes — can worsen how bad the ground shakes both side to side and up and down along an affected fault area, scientists at USC, Caltech and