Salton Sea — Beneath a star-filled sky along an abandoned rail line that's close to the San Andreas fault, USGS geologist Mark Goldman monitors a pair of computers that will record explosions from 16 blast sites across the desert. Analysis of those seismic waves will help scientists to accurately map the shape, depth and location of fault lines near the Salton Sea. Some sensors are hard-wired to the cord that stretches through the scrub.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26104

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Salton Sea — Geologists Coyn Criley and Joe Svitek walk to the edge of a blast hole they had detonated minutes before. Once data are recorded, the desert area near the Salton Sea will be cleared of wires, pipes and instruments and restored to its natural condition.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26105

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Salton Sea — USGS geologists Coyn Criley, left, and Joe Svitek prepare one of 16 blast sites where explosives buried 10 feet underground will be detonated in the early morning hours.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26106

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Salton Sea — As the sun sets over the Salton Sea basin, USGS geologist Robert Sickler uses a long pole to gently tamp desert sand on an explosive charge he buried about 10 feet down in a plastic tube. Controlled explosions to measure fault lines are usually done at night when truck and train traffic is at a minimum.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26107

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Salton Sea — USGS geologist Coyn Criley loads an explosive charge and detonator wire into a plastic pipe that is then drilled 10 feet into the desert floor. Blast sites on and near the San Andreas fault are linked to seismic sensors that will record the night's detonations.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26108

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Salton Sea — Angel Olguin jams a seismic sensor into a shallow trough scraped in the desert floor near the Salton Sea. Thousands of such sensors will record seismic waves from detonated explosives to "map" the San Andreas fault.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26109

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Salton Sea — Frank Sousa, left, Erin Carrick and Angel Olguin scramble up the berm of an abandoned rail line a few miles east of the Salton Sea burying seismometers in the desert floor. They are part of the Salton Seismic Imaging Project seeking to map the San Andreas fault.

PHOTOGRAPH BY: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

http://framework.latimes.com/?attachment_id=26110

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