File:Aerial-SanAndreas-CarrizoPlain.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Named by
- Andrew Lawson
- Country
- United States, Mexico
- State
- California , Baja California , Sonora
- Cities
- San Francisco , San Bernardino , San Juan Bautista
- Segments
- Calaveras , Hayward , Elsinore , Imperial , Laguna Salada , San Jacinto
- Length
- 800 mi (1,300 km)
- Displacement
- 0.79 to 1.38 in (20 to 35 mm)/yr
- Plate
- North American & Pacific
- Status
- Active
- Earthquakes
- 1812 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w ≈7.5), 1838 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w ≈7.2), 1857 , 1906 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w ≈7.9), 1957 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w 5.7), 1989 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w ≈6.9), 2004 ( Moment mag. scale</span>"}]]}'>M w ≈6.0)
- Type
- Transform fault
- Movement
- Dextral
- Age
- Neogene - Holocene
- Orogeny
- Gorda-California-Nevada
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- strike-slip fault
- Has part
- separation
- Named after
- San Andreas Lake
- Country
- United States
- Located in
- California
- Image
- San Andreas Fault Aerial View.gif
- Length
- 1287
Show 4 more facts
- heritage designation
- National Natural Landmark
- Commons category
- San Andreas Fault
- Commons gallery
- San Andreas Fault
- P12749
- Neowerdermannia
via Wikidata · CC0
~24 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Plaque showing location of San Andreas Fault in San Mateo County The San Andreas Fault is a continental right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly 750 mi (1,210 km) through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Pacific plate and the North American plate. Traditionally, for scientific purposes, the fault has been classified into three main segments (northern, central, and southern), each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk. The average slip rate along the entire fault ranges from 0.79 to 1.38 inches (20 to 35 mm) per year.
In the north, the fault terminates offshore near Eureka, California, at the Mendocino triple junction, where three tectonic plates meet. The Cascadia subduction zone intersects the San Andreas fault at the Mendocino triple junction. It has been hypothesized that a major earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone could trigger a rupture along the San Andreas Fault.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “San Andreas Fault” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (9)
On the map
13 mapped locations