The San Andreas Fault By Kevin Buckley And Nicholas Schuch, Esquire

Here are the earth’s plates

California’s Faults The Pacific Plate (on the west) is moving Northwest, relative to the North American Plate (on the east) The San Andreas Fault is the master fault of an extremely complex fault system The SAF is more than 800 miles long, and extends at least 10 miles into the earth

Your Fault, My Fault The fault varies in width from a few hundred feet to a mile The fault zone is mostly consistent of fault gouge (pulverized rock) and a few solid pieces of rock

The earth is shaking The fault moves about 2 inches annually –Fault is about million years old –Some blocks of crust may have moved through more than 20 degrees of latitude –That is pretty far

How Dangerous?

The SAF has had three major earthquakes : 350 KM ruptured in Southern CA, estimated magnitude was : 430 KM ruptured in Northern CA, estimated magnitude was 7.8; Epicenter was very close to San Francisco deaths in quake and subsequent fires : 40 KM ruptured near Santa Cruz; estimated magnitude of 7.1, causing 63 deaths

Living with the Fault Because earthquakes are impossible to prevent, humans near the fault have tried to learn how to live with it –Buildings in danger zones have been rebuilt or strengthened –Selective use of land: careful zoning –Sustained efforts in learning how to predict earthquakes

And that’s all Information taken from and

5 questions 1.What is a geologic fault? 2.What is the San Andreas Fault, and what is its special significance? 3.What are some of the specifications of the fault? 4.How far has the fault moved (both recently and geologically? 5.How destructive can the SAF be?