san andreas fault is an example of coastal faults.
san andreas fault is an example of coastal faults.
san andreas fault is an example of what type of fault?
coastal faults
transform faults are not limited to oceanic crust and spreading centers; many of them are on continental margins. the best example is the san andreas fault on the pacific coast of the united states. the san andreas fault links the east pacific rise off the west coast of mexico (gulf of california) to the mendocino triple junction (part of the juan de fuca plate) off the coast of the northwestern united states, making it a ridge-to-transform-style fault. the formation of the san andreas fault system occurred fairly recently during the oligocene period between 34 million and 24 million years ago. during this period, the farallon plate, followed by the pacific plate, collided into the north american plate. the collision led to the subduction of the farallon plate underneath the north american plate. once the spreading center separating the pacific and the farallon plates was subducted beneath the north american plate, the san andreas continental transform-fault system was created.
transform fault
the history of earthquake investigations in california has been largely focused on the san andreas fault system, due to its strong influence in the state as the boundary between the pacific plate and the north american plate; it is the most studied fault on earth. andrew lawson, a geologist from the university of california, berkeley, had named the fault after the san andreas lake (prior to the occurrence of the 1906 san francisco earthquake) and later led an investigation into that event. the san andreas fault ruptured for a length of during the 1906 shock, both to the north of san francisco and to the south in the santa cruz mountains region. several long term forecasts for a large shock along the san andreas fault in that area had been made public prior to 1989 (the event and its aftershocks occurred within a recognized seismic gap) but the earthquake that transpired was not what had been anticipated. the 1989 loma prieta event originated on an undiscovered oblique-slip reverse fault that is located adjacent to the san andreas fault.
1989 loma prieta earthquake