As the rest of the plates moves, the stuck parts deform like compressing a spring so they build up stress in the rocks along the fault. The plates are continually moving but where the touch each other, they get stuck. It is roughly ten miles deep, and reaches from the Salton Sea in Imperial county to Cape Mendocino in Humboldt county. The SAF is about 700 miles long as the crow flies and about 800 miles long when its curves are measured. The plates are rigid (or almost rigid) slabs of rock that comprise the crust and upper mantle of the Earth. The San Andreas Fault is a place where two tectonic plates touch, the North American and Pacific Plates. Indeed, almost none of the SAF's fault plane is vertical. When divergent, they usually open valleys on land and oceanic ridges like the Mid Atlantic Ridge.Īt plate boundaries, the fault plane is seldom vertical, i.e. When plate boundaries are convergent there is always a subduction zone. Convergent faults raise pressure ridges and mountain ranges. If the rocks move horizontally apart or together, they are called divergent or convergent, respectively. This means that if two people face each other across the fault and it moves, each person will see the other person move to the right. The SAF is a right lateral transform fault. If the motion is mostly horizontal and parallel to the fault plane, the fault is called a strike slip (or transform) fault. Dip slip faults with dips less than 45 degrees are called thrust faults. When the motion is predominantly vertical, they are called dip slip faults. Some faults are many miles long.įaults can be classified according to which of the three directions of space the rocks on either side move. Most faults are small - even microscopic - and are not important.
#SAN ANDREAS FAULT PLATE BOUNDARY CRACK#
But what is a fault? And what is the SAF?Ī fault is a planar crack in a rock along which slippage has taken place. And with many research institutions dedicated to studying such an accessible fault, the SAF has become a household name. 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. The San Andreas Fault is the most famous fault in the world. Map of California showing the SAF, Natural Landmark plaque and the Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas fault's nick name is " SAF". Tectonics Volcanoes Tsunamis California geology History Myths Organizations Links About Research Home Pictures Maps Google Map Visit the fault Earthquakes Be prepared ShakeOut! Feel it? Big One
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