What is the San Andreas Fault?
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.
What are 5 interesting facts about the San Andreas Fault?
The San Andreas Fault (SAF) is 700-800 miles long and approximately ten miles deep. It is about 28 million years old. Most faults are found in the ocean but the SAF is a plate boundary found on land. The fault does not go through a city but it divides the state of California into two parts.
How was San Andreas Fault caused?
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.
What is the San Andreas Fault and example of?
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.
Will the San Andreas fault ever break?
Narrator: On average, the San Andreas Fault ruptures every 150 years. The southern parts of the fault have remained inactive for over 200 years. According to a 2008 federal report, the most likely scenario is a 7.8 magnitude quake that would rupture a 200-mile stretch along the southernmost part of the fault.
Can you visit the San Andreas fault?
San Andreas Fault at Parkfield In Parkfield, you can see the results in a bent bridge. Parkfield is fun to visit and is home to a deep well dug to explore the San Andreas Fault.
What is unique about San Andreas Fault?
The fault zone is marked by distinctive landforms that include long straight escarpments, narrow ridges, and small undrained ponds formed by the settling of small blocks within the zone. Many stream channels characteristically jog sharply to the right where they cross the fault.
Is the San Andreas Fault visible?
The San Andreas Fault begins near the Salton Sea, runs north along the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses Cajon Pass, and then runs along the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles. The mud pots near the Salton Sea are a result of its action, but your best bet to see the Southern San Andreas Fault is at Palm Springs.
What happens if the San Andreas Fault breaks?
Narrator: Parts of the San Andreas Fault intersect with 39 gas and oil pipelines. This could rupture high-pressure gas lines, releasing gas into the air and igniting potentially deadly explosions. Stewart: So, if you have natural-gas lines that rupture, that’s how you can get fire and explosions.
Can you see the San Andreas Fault?
What would happen if San Andreas Fault breaks?
What happens if the San Andreas Fault cracks?
Fires would rage – as they did following the Northridge earthquake – as gas mains, and mains water pipes, become severed; in fact, the damage from resulting fires is estimated as more costly than that resulting from the initial shaking. The overall death toll is estimated at 1,800.
What caused the San Andreas Fault?
The San Andreas Fault was created because of the strike and slipping motions of the North American moving in the south direction and Pacific Ocean moving in the north direction. The San Andreas Fault is commonly known as a transform fault.
What fault is San Andreas on?
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that runs a length of roughly 810 miles through California in the United States. The fault’s motion is right-lateral strike-slip. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.
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.