San Andreas Fault

San Andreas Fault Latest News

According to new research, stress along the San Andreas fault in Southern California has reached the highest levels in 1,000 years.

About San Andreas Fault

• Location: It is a major continental transform boundary that is situated in the extreme western part of the continent of North America.
• It is believed that the San Andreas Fault started to form about 30 million years ago in the mid-Cenozoic Era.
• It forms the border between two principal tectonic plates: the North American Plate on the eastern side and the Pacific Plate on the western side.
• Geologists classify the San Andreas Fault as a “strike-slip fault”, as the Pacific Plate slides laterally over the North American Plate in a northward direction.
• It is one of the world’s largest and most extensively studied faults.
• It extends in the northwestward direction for over 1,300km from the northern edge of the Gulf of California through the western part of the US State of California and passes out to the Pacific Ocean close to the city of San Francisco.
• The northward movement along the San Andreas Fault had led to the creation of the Baja Peninsula.

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What is Strike-Slip Fault?

• It occurs in an area where two plates are sliding past horizontally with little to no vertical movement. 
• Strike-slip faults are found in California, the San Andreas Fault being the most famous, which has caused many powerful earthquakes.

Source: IT