Faults of the Baton Rouge system have been shown to cause damage to road, pavement, and building structures gradually, over periods of decades, even though the case can be made that the rate of movement along them has increased in connection with human activities such as drainage alteration and groundwater withdrawal. Faults of the Baton Rouge system in East Baton Rouge Parish are active but have not been demonstrated to be seismic, i.e., to generate detectable earthquakes. A map rendering of engineering-geologic hazards for East Baton Rouge Parish depicts a 200-ft - approximately 60-meter zone on either side of the interpreted fault trace as potentially susceptible to damages to developments, though this was and remains little more than an approximation. Given the unknowns and their proven capacity to generate expensive damages to structures along their traces in places, public awareness of them needs to be comparable to that for flood zones. The public is well advised to remain mindful of proximity to them and to consider their potential to cause damage, and to understand that discounting or ignoring such potential may entail unacceptable financial risks. The LGS trusts that this document will make the basis for such awareness more accessible to the public.
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