It is classified as a right lateral (dextral) strike-slip fault. ... Although both plates are moving in a north westerly direction, the Pacific Plate
Is the San Andreas Fault a right strike-slip fault?
strike-slip fault – a fault on which the two blocks slide past one another. The San Andreas Fault is an example of a right lateral fault .
Why is the San Andreas Fault a strike-slip 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. ... The Northern Pacific plate is sliding laterally past the North American plate in a northerly direction , and hence the San Andreas is classified as a strike-slip fault.
Is the San Andreas Fault a transverse fault?
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal). ... It was formed by a transform boundary.
Why San Andreas Fault considered a popular fault?
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 a strike-slip fault cause a tsunami?
Strike-slip faults are not usually included in tsunami hazard assessments as they generally cause large horizontal (with limited vertical) displacements, and so are considered insufficient to generate large tsunamis unless they trigger a submarine landslide.
What happens when the San Andreas fault moves?
It’s a big fault where the two sides are moving three or four centimeters a year sideways. Strain builds up for one or two hundred years along that boundary, and then finally that strain becomes so great that the fault can’t take it anymore. It breaks and moves 15 ft or so all at once, causing an earthquake .
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.
Will California fall into the ocean?
No, California is not going to fall into the ocean . California is firmly planted on the top of the earth’s crust in a location where it spans two tectonic plates. ... The Pacific Plate is moving northwest with respect to the North American Plate at approximately 46 millimeters per year (the rate your fingernails grow).
Where is the biggest fault line in the world?
The Ring of Fire is the largest and most active fault line in the world, stretching from New Zealand, all around the east coast of Asia, over to Canada and the USA and all the way down to the southern tip of South America and causes more than 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
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.
What causes faults to move?
Sometimes faults move when energy is released from a sudden slip of the rocks on either side . Most earthquakes occur along plate boundaries, but they can also happen in the middle of plates along intraplate fault zones.
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.
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 much does the San Andreas Fault move each year?
The average rate of movement along the San Andreas Fault is between 30mm and 50mm per year over the last 10 million years.
