The movement of the plates relative to each other has been about 1 cm (0.4 inch) per year over geologic time, though the annual rate of movement has been 4 to 6 cm (1.6 to 2.4 inches) per year since the early 20th century. Parts of the fault line moved as much as 6.4 metres (21 feet) during the 1906 earthquake.
How do the plates move at the San Andreas Fault?
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.
How fast do the plates move at the San Andreas Fault?
The average rate of movement along the San Andreas Fault is between 30mm and 50mm per year over the last 10 million years. If current rates of movement are maintained Los Angeles will be adjacent to San Francisco in approximately 20 million years.
What type of plate motion occurs at the San Andreas Fault?
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.
How fast does the Pacific Plate move?
The Pacific Plate is moving to the northwest at a speed of between 7 and 11 centimeters (cm) or ~3-4 inches a year . The North American plate is moving to the west-southwest at about 2.3 cm (~1 inch) per year driven by the spreading center that created the Atlantic Ocean, the Mid Atlantic Ridge.
What will happen if San Andreas Fault breaks?
Death and damage
About 1,800 people could die in a hypothetical 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault — that’s according to a scenario published by the USGS called the ShakeOut. More than 900 people could die in fires , more than 600 in building damage or collapse, and more than 150 in transportation accidents.
When was the last time San Andreas Fault moved?
There are only two large known historic earthquakes on the San Andreas Fault in southern CA, the most recent in 1857 , and before that one in 1812. With about 45 years between the historic earthquakes but about 160 years since the last one, it is clear that the fault does not behave like a clock with a regular beat.
What cities will be affected by San Andreas fault?
The cities of Desert Hot Springs, San Bernardino, Wrightwood, Palmdale, Gorman, Frazier Park, Daly City, Point Reyes Station and Bodega Bay rest on the San Andreas fault line. The Southern San Andreas slices through Los Angeles County along the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Can San Andreas really happen?
Yes . In the San Andreas movie, a 9.6 magnitude earthquake hits San Francisco, which was triggered by a 9.1 magnitude quake in Los Angeles, following a 7.1 in Nevada. U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Dr. ... In 1992, a 7.3 quake hit Southern California and triggered a 5.7 in Nevada (NPR.org).
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.
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.
What causes tectonic plates to move?
Earth’s crust, called the lithosphere, consists of 15 to 20 moving tectonic plates. ... The heat from radioactive processes within the planet’s interior causes the plates to move, sometimes toward and sometimes away from each other. This movement is called plate motion, or tectonic shift.
What makes the San Andreas Fault important?
California’s sleeping giant, the San Andreas Fault, marks the slippery yet sticky boundary between two of Earth’s tectonic plates. It is responsible for the biggest earthquakes in California , up to at least magnitude 8.1.
What is the largest tectonic plate?
There are seven major plates: African, Antarctic, Eurasian, Indo-Australian, North American, Pacific and South American. The Hawaiian Islands were created by the Pacific Plate , which is the world’s largest plate at 39,768,522 square miles.
Is Hawaii moving towards Japan?
Presently the Hawaiian Islands and our part of the Pacific plate are moving northwest at about 100 mm (4 in.) per year, relative to the island-producing hot spot. ... A subduction zone offshore of Japan consumes the Pacific plate, which is partly melted to create the volcanoes of Japan.
What direction do the plates move?
The movement of the plates creates three types of tectonic boundaries: convergent, where plates move into one another; divergent, where plates move apart; and transform, where plates move sideways in relation to each other. They move at a rate of one to two inches (three to five centimeters) per year.
