The Pacific Plate
Is the San Andreas Fault a ridge?
The San Andreas Fault System grew as a remnant of a oceanic crustal plate and a spreading ridge (like the Juan de Fuca Ridge) were subducted beneath the North American Plate as it moved west relative to the Pacific Plate.
Is the San Andreas Fault divergent or convergent?
Tectonic setting of the San Andreas Fault (transform plate boundary) in California, the subduction zone ( convergent plate boundary: oceanic-continental collision) in the Pacific Northwest.
What type boundary is the San Andreas Fault answers com?
The San Andreas Fault and Queen Charlotte Fault are transform plate boundaries developing where the Pacific Plate moves northward past the North American Plate. The San Andreas Fault is just one of several faults that accommodate the transform motion between the Pacific and North American plates.
What plate boundary was the San Francisco earthquake on?
The fault is on the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate , with strike slip motion, in which the crust on either side of the fault rubs against each other in a horizontal fashion. Geologist Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley first discovered the fault in 1985.
What happens if the San Andreas Fault breaks?
If a large earthquake ruptures the San Andreas fault, the death toll could approach 2,000 , and the shaking could lead to damage in every city in Southern California — from Palm Springs to San Luis Obispo, seismologist Lucy Jones has said.
What is the most famous fault in the world?
The San Andreas Fault is the most famous fault in the world. Its notoriety comes partly from the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but rather more importantly because it passes through California, a highly-populated state that is frequently in the news.
Can you fall into the San Andreas fault?
The strike-slip earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault are a result of this plate motion. There is nowhere for California to fall , however, Los Angeles and San Francisco will one day be adjacent to one another!
Can the San Andreas fault cause a 9.0 earthquake?
The San Andreas fault is not long and deep enough to have a magnitude 9 or larger earthquake as depicted in the movie. The largest historical earthquake on the northern San Andreas was the 1906 magnitude 7.9 earthquake.
How does the San Andreas fault affect humans?
Yet in an instant, that crack, the San Andreas fault line, could ruin lives and cripple the national economy. In one scenario produced by the United States Geological Survey, researchers found that a big quake along the San Andreas could kill 1,800 people , injure 55,000 and wreak $200 million in damage.
When was the last time San Andreas Fault moved?
The most recent major earthquake on this fault was approximately M6. 9 and occurred in 1868 . The fault has been creeping about 4.6 mm/yr (0.2 inches/yr) for the last several decades, but that is only half of the long-term slip rate, so stress is building upon this fault.
How deep is the San Andreas Fault?
The entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth. In detail, the fault is a complex zone of crushed and broken rock from a few hundred feet to a mile wide. Many smaller faults branch from and join the San Andreas fault zone.
How much does the San Andreas fault move per year?
The average rate of movement along the San Andreas Fault is between 30mm and 50mm per year over the last 10 million years.
Why are there earthquakes at the San Andreas fault?
Tectonic Plate Boundaries
The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east) , causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary, accomodating horizontal relative motions.
Was there any warning before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake?
There was no significant warning before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The only notice of a potentially large seismic event was a foreshock that...
What are the two sliding boundary of San Andreas fault?
At the San Andreas Fault in California, the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate slide past each other along a giant fracture in Earth’s crust.
