At the San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1,200 kilometers through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip. The fault divides into three segments, each with diffe…
North American Plate
The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Greenland, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. It extends eastward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and westward to the Chersky Range in eastern Siberia. The plat…
Why is the San Andreas Fault right lateral?
It is classified as a right lateral (dextral) strike-slip fault. Although both plates are moving in a north westerly direction, the Pacific Plate is moving faster than the North American Plate, so the relative movement of the North American Plate is to the south east.
Is the San Andreas Fault a right lateral strike-slip fault?
strike-slip fault - a fault on which the two blocks slide past one another. The San Andreas Fault is an example of a right lateral fault.
Why is the San Andreas Fault a strike-slip fault?
A San Andreas earthquake would be classified as occurring on a strike-slip fault. Strike-slip faults are found along boundaries of tectonic plates sliding past each other. A strike-slip fault is a vertical fracture in the earth's crust that creates horizontal motion, along the line of the fault.
What type of lateral is the San Andreas Fault?
right-lateral strike-slipGeologists refer to this type fault displacement as right-lateral strike-slip.
Is the San Andreas Fault An example of a strike-slip fault?
The San Andreas Fault—made infamous by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake—is a strike-slip fault. This means two fault blocks are moving past each other horizontally. Strike-slip faults tend to occur along the boundaries of plates that are sliding past each other.
Is San Andreas right or left lateral?
The San Andreas is a right-lateral fault. Geologists use the term right-lateral to describe the direction the fault moves. If you were standing on one side of a right-lateral fault and facing the fault, a person standing on the opposite side would move to your right during an earthquake.
How can you tell if a strike-slip fault is right or left lateral?
If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the right, the slip style is termed right lateral; if the block moves to the left, the motion is termed left lateral.
What type of fault is the San Andreas Fault quizlet?
→ The san Andreas fault in california is well known example of strike-slip fault.
What is special about the San Andreas Fault?
California's sleeping giant, the San Andreas Fault, marks the slippery yet sticky boundary between two of Earth's tectonic plates. It is responsible for the biggest earthquakes in California, up to at least magnitude 8.1.
What type of structure is the San Andreas Fault?
The San Andreas Fault is one of the most intensely studied faults on the planet. It is a continental transform that separates the Pacific plate from the North American plate along its entire trace. The trace of the fault through California is shown in Figure 17.1.
Which type of fault is the San Andreas system in California an example?
The Northern Pacific plate is sliding laterally past the North American plate in a northerly direction, and hence the San Andreas is classified as a strike-slip fault.
What determines whether a strike-slip fault is right lateral or left lateral what type of strike-slip fault was formed in step 14?
Strike-slip faults are right lateral or left lateral, depending on whether the block on the opposite side of the fault from an observer has moved to the right or left.
What is a right lateral strike-slip fault?
Strike-slip faults are vertical (or nearly vertical) fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally. If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the right, the slip style is termed right-lateral; if the block moves to the left, the motion is termed left-lateral.
What type of fault is a right lateral?
strike-slip faultIf you were to stand on the fault and look along its length, this is a type of strike-slip fault where the right block moves toward you and the left block moves away.
What type of fault is a strike-slip?
Strike-slip faults are vertical (or nearly vertical) fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally. If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the right, the slip style is termed right lateral; if the block moves to the left, the motion is termed left lateral.
Where is an example of a strike-slip fault?
An example of a strike-slip fault is the San Andreas Fault in California. The Anatolian Fault in Turkey and the Alpine Fault in New Zealand are also strike-slip faults.
What is the sense of slip across a strike-slip fault?
The main sense of slip across a strike-slip fault is horizontal. But the movement can be right lateral (ground on opposite side of fault is moving right with respect to the other block) or left lateral (ground opposite moves left).
What is transform fault?
A transform fault is a type of strike-slip fault wherein the relative horizontal slip is accommodating the movement between two ocean ridges or other tectonic boundaries. They are connected on both ends to other faults.
What is left lateral motion?
There is no deformation of the rock adjacent to contact. If the block opposite an observer looking across the fault moves to the left , the motion is termed left lateral. Left-lateral fault strike slip fault with low friction along fault contact. There is no deformation of the rock adjacent to contact.
What is shear stress?
Shear stress is acting on the blocks. The fault surface is near vertical. Stress can have right-lateral, or left-lateral motion. The San Andreas Fault is right-lateral. Related Animations. Fault: Strike-slip. In a strike-slip fault, the movement of blocks along a fault is horizontal.
Is the San Andreas fault right lateral?
Wallace Creek segment of the San Andreas Fault is example of a right-lateral strike-slip fault. The entire San Andreas Fault has right-lateral motion with the Pacific Plate moving northwest along the eastern margin of the North American Plate.