Everything about The San Andreas Fault totally explained
The
San Andreas Fault is a geologic
transform fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1,300 km) through
California in the
United States. The fault's motion is
right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal motion). It forms the
tectonic boundary between the
Pacific Plate and the
North American Plate.
The fault was first identified in
Northern California by
UC Berkeley geology professor
Andrew Lawson in 1895 and named by him after a small lake which lies in a linear valley formed by the fault just south of San Francisco, the
Laguna de San Andreas. Following the
1906 San Francisco Earthquake, it was Lawson who also discovered that the San Andreas Fault stretched well southward into
Southern California.
Southern, central, and northern segments
The San Andreas Fault can be divided into three segments.
The southern segment (known as the
Mojave segment) begins near the
Salton Sea at the northern terminus of the
East Pacific Rise and runs northward before it begins a slow bend to the west where it meets the
San Bernardino Mountains. It runs along the southern base of the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses through the
Cajon Pass and continues to run northwest along the northern base of the
San Gabriel Mountains. These mountains are a result of movement along the San Andreas Fault and are commonly called the
Transverse Range. Near
Palmdale, a portion of the fault is easily examined as a roadcut for the
Antelope Valley Freeway runs directly through it.
After crossing through
Frazier Park, the fault begins to bend northwards. This area is referred to as the “Big Bend” and is thought to be where the fault locks up in
Southern California as the plates try to move past each other. This section of the fault has an earthquake-recurrence interval of roughly 140-160 years. Northwest of Frazier Park, the fault runs through the
Carrizo Plain, a long, treeless plain within which much of the fault is plainly visible. The Elkhorn Scarp defines the fault trace along much of its length within the plain.
The central segment of the San Andreas fault runs in a northwestern direction from
Parkfield to
Hollister. While the southern section of the fault and the parts through Parkfield experience earthquakes, the rest of the central section of the fault exhibits a phenomenon called
aseismic creep. This term describes the fault being able to move without causing earthquakes.
The northern segment of the fault runs from Hollister, through the
Santa Cruz Mountains, epicenter of the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, then on up the
San Francisco Peninsula, where it was first identified by Professor Lawson in 1895, then offshore at
Pacifica at
Mussel Rock. This is the approximate location of the epicenter of the
1906 San Francisco earthquake. The fault returns onshore at
Bolinas Lagoon just north of
Stinson Beach in
Marin County. It returns underwater through the linear trough of
Tomales Bay which separates the
Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland, returning onshore at
Fort Ross. (In this region around the
San Francisco Bay Area several significant "sister faults" run more-or-less parallel, and each of these can create significantly destructive earthquakes.)
From Fort Ross the northern segment continues overland, forming in part a linear valley through which the
Gualala River flows. It goes back offshore at
Point Arena. After that, it runs underwater along the coast until it nears
Cape Mendocino, where it begins to bend to the west, terminating at the
Mendocino Triple Junction.
Plate movement
All land west of the fault on the
Pacific Plate is moving slowly to the northwest while all land east of the fault is moving to the southwest (relatively southeast as measured at the fault) under the influence of
plate tectonics. The rate of slippage averages approximately 33-37 mm/year across California.
The westward component of the motion of the North American Plate creates compressional forces which are expressed as uplift in the Coast Ranges. Likewise, the northwest motion of the Pacific Plate creates significant compressional forces where the North American Plate stands in its way, creating the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, and to a lesser, but still significant extent, the Santa Cruz Mountains, site of the
Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989.
Studies of the relative motions of the Pacific and North American plates have shown that only about 75 percent of the motion can be accounted for in the movements of the San Andreas and its various branch faults. The rest of the motion has been found in an area east of the
Sierra Nevada mountains called the
Walker Lane or Eastern California Shear Zone. The reason for this isn't as yet clear, although several hypotheses have been offered and research is ongoing. One hypothesis which gained some currency following the
Landers Earthquake in 1992 is that the plate boundary may be shifting eastward, away from the San Andreas to the Walker Lane.
Assuming the plate boundary doesn't change as hypothesized, projected motion indicates that the landmass west of the San Andreas Fault, including Los Angeles, will eventually slide past San Francisco, then continue northwestward toward the
Aleutian Trench, over a period of perhaps twenty million years. On the other hand, if the plate boundary shifts eastward, then the entire state of California would move in the same direction.
Scientific research
Research at Parkfield
Further south in central California is the small town of
Parkfield, California, which lies along the San Andreas Fault. Seismologists discovered that this section of the fault consistently produces magnitude 6.0 earthquakes about every 22 years. Following earthquakes in 1857, 1881, 1901, 1922, 1934, and 1966, scientists predicted an earthquake to hit
Parkfield in 1993. This quake eventually struck in 2004 (see
Parkfield earthquake). Because of this frequent activity and prediction, Parkfield has become one of the most popular spots in the world to try to capture and record large earthquakes.
In 2004, work began just north of Parkfield on the
San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). The goal of SAFOD is to drill a hole nearly 3 kilometers into the Earth's crust and into the San Andreas Fault. An array of sensors will be installed to capture and record earthquakes that happen near this area.
The University of California study on "the next big one"
A study completed by
Yuri Fialko has demonstrated that the San Andreas fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for the next "big one," as it's commonly called, that is, an earthquake of
magnitude 7.0 or greater. The study also concluded that the risk of a large earthquake may be increasing faster than researchers had previously believed. Fialko also emphasized in his study that, while the San Andreas Fault has experienced massive earthquakes in 1857 at its central section and in 1906 at its northern segment (the great San Francisco earthquake), the southern section of the fault hasn't seen a similar rupture in at least 300 years.
If such an earthquake were to occur, Fialko's study stated, it would result in substantial damage to
Palm Springs and a number of other cities in
San Bernardino,
Riverside and
Imperial counties in California, and
Mexicali municipality in
Baja California. Such an event would be felt throughout much of
Southern California, including densely populated areas of metropolitan
Los Angeles,
Orange County,
San Diego and
Tijuana,
Baja California.
"The information available suggests that the fault is ready for the next big earthquake but exactly when the triggering will happen and when the earthquake will occur we can't tell," Fialko said. "It could be tomorrow or it could be 10 years or more from now," he concluded in September of 2005.
The Cascadia Connection
Recent studies of past earthquake traces on both the northern San Andreas Fault and the southern
Cascadia subduction zone indicate a correlation in time which may be evidence that quakes on the Cascadia subduction zone may have triggered most of the major quakes on the northern San Andreas during at least the past 3,000 years or so. The evidence also shows the rupture direction going from north to south in each of these time-correlated events. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake seems to have been a major exception to this correlation, however, as it wasn't preceded by a major Cascadia quake, and the rupture moved mostly from south to north.
Notable earthquakes
The San Andreas Fault has had some notable
earthquakes in historic times:
- 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake — 350 kilometers were ruptured in central and southern California. Though it's known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, the epicenter is thought to have been located far to the north, just south of Parkfield. Only two deaths were reported. The magnitude was about 8.0
- 1906 San Francisco Earthquake — 430 kilometers were ruptured in Northern California. The epicenter was near San Francisco. About 3000 people died in the earthquake and subsequent fires. This time the magnitude was estimated to be 7.8.
- 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake — 40 kilometers were ruptured (although the rupture didn't reach the surface) near Santa Cruz, California, causing 63 deaths and moderate damage in certain vulnerable locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Magnitude this time was about 7.1. The earthquake also postponed game 3 of the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park.
- 2004 Parkfield earthquake — on 28 September 2004 at quarter past 10 in the morning, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck California on the San Andreas Fault. This earthquake was originally expected in 1993 based on the latest earthquake prediction theories of the time. Eleven years passed before this prediction finally came to pass. Despite the extra time between events the magnitude of the earthquake was no larger than originally expected.
The San Andreas Fault in popular culture
In the mini-series Magnitude 10.5, San Andreas Fault is the center of the whole question which arises in the mini-series.
The television version of the theatrically-released film Earthquake features a prologue about the San Andreas, implying that the fault is responsible for the disaster of the title. There is no mention of the San Andreas fault in the theatrical version of the film.
The plot of the original Superman movie had Lex Luthor purchasing massive amounts of land east of the fault and then detonating a nuclear missile at the fault line, causing all land west of the fault to plunge into the sea and turning Luthor's previously purchased barren land into beachfront property.
The James Bond movie A View to a Kill saw a plot by villain Max Zorin to set off explosives under the San Andreas and Hayward faults in order to destroy Silicon Valley.
The video game, is set in a fictional state named after this fault. Also, what is said to be the fault can be seen running through San Fierro, a fictionalized version of San Francisco.
There is a popular misconception, played up in Curt Gentry's Last Days of the Late, Great State of California (1968) that, eventually, a portion of California will break away from the continental U.S. at the fault. Since the San Andreas Fault is a strike-slip (horizontal motion) fault and not a normal (vertical motion) fault nor a rift, this scenario isn't plausible.
The aforementioned misconception has been referenced by Bill Hicks' album, Arizona Bay, the Tool song, Ænema, the Presidents of the United States of America song, "Naked and Famous", the Warren Zevon song, "Desperadoes Under the Eaves", and the Steely Dan song "My Old School." The 1968 song "California Shakin' Away" by the one-local-hit group Shango warns listeners to "get ready to tie up the boat in Idaho."
The misconception also forms part of the plot of The End of the World, a popular Flash animation.
On Duke Nukem 3D games. Duke explored the San Andreas Fault area on the final stages of Episode 1 LA Meltdown on The Abyss
The song "San Andreas Fault" by Natalie Merchant off her 1995 album Tigerlily is about the San Andreas fault.
In an Animaniacs song about the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Warners incorrectly claim that the San Andreas Fault was the cause.
In the Three Investigators book The Mystery of the Green Ghost, it's believed that an earthquake caused by the fault line had destroyed the infamous ghost pearls.Further Information
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