India, June 17 -- Stress levels along two major fault lines in Southern California have climbed to their highest point in over a millennium, according to new research from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and it is raising fresh concerns about seismic risk in one of the most densely populated regions in the United States.

The findings were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth and highlighted in a university release on June 10.

"Our results show that stress levels on multiple fault segments are now at or above the highest values seen in the past millennium and that the region may be capable of a large through-going rupture involving both fault systems," lead author Liliane Burkhard said in a statement.

Research...