In geology, aseismic creep is measurable surface displacement along a fault in the absence of notable earthquakes.
An example is along the Calaveras fault in Hollister, California. Streets crossing the fault in Hollister show significant offset and several houses sitting atop the fault are notably twisted (yet habitable). The city attracts geologists and geology students almost weekly. There is also significant aseismic creep along the Hayward fault in and north of Hayward, California, but insufficient to prevent a substantial earthquake.
Famous quotes containing the word creep:
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. On the farm the weather was the great fact, and men’s affairs went on underneath it, as the streams creep under the ice. But in Black Hawk the scene of human life was spread out shrunken and pinched, frozen down to the bare stalk.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)