San Andrea Fault Essay example -- science

San Andrea FaultIntroduction The San Andreas Fault is a geologic blame partition between two architectonic plates that runs from San Francisco south to San Diego in California. It is an area of stalk earthquakes caused by the plates sliding past each other. It is so called because it runs on the San Andreas Valley. The San Andreas fault was brought dramatically to world attention in 1906 when sudden displacement reaction along the fault produced the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. This earthquake was but one of many a(prenominal) that have resulted throughout its life of about 15-20 million years. Body The perfect San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth. The fault is a complex zone of crushed and illogical rock from a few hundred feet to a mile wide. some smaller faults branch from and join the San Andreas fault zone. The Pacific plate is pathetic northwest in relation to the North American p late, and it is believed that the total displacement along the fault since its formation more than 30 million years ago has been about 350 mi. Movement along the fault causes earthquakes several cardinal occur annually The basic science is pretty straightforward. The earth lurches from measure to time because its outer shell is broken into huge, solid plates floating on a layer of molten rock that has the consistency of Silly Putty. These tectonic plates are constantly jostling each other, like rafts displace into a...