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You are here: Home / Geography / Why Are There So Many Earthquakes In California and How Long Is the San Andreas Fault?

Why Are There So Many Earthquakes In California and How Long Is the San Andreas Fault?

May 30, 2020 by Karen Hill

California has so many earthquakes because the San Andreas Fault runs some 800 miles (1,288 km) through the state.

The San Andreas Fault is a crack in the Earth’s crust that extends 10 miles (161 km) deep in some places.

Geologists call it a strike-slip type of fault, meaning the rock on one side of the fault moves sideways in relation to the rock on the other side.

Earthquakes can occur along this fault, like those that have caused damage in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities in California.

The San Andreas Fault marks the place where two of the world’s major tectonic plates, the North American and the Northern Pacific, meet. When these plates move and collide or slip over or under each other, we sometimes feel that movement as an earthquake.

The Northern Pacific plate is moving northwestward past the North American plate at a rate of 1.6 inches (4 cm) to 2.4 inches (6 cm) per year.

At this rate, in 15 million years Los Angeles could become a suburb of San Francisco.

The San Andreas Fault marks the place where two continental plates meet.

The plates are moving in different directions, as the arrows show, which causes the large number of earthquakes in the region.

Related Facts

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  • Why Does California Have So Many Earthquakes and Which Two Tectonic Plates Form the The San Andreas Fault?
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  • Which Explorers First Explored the Continents of the World?
  • Where Do Most Earthquakes In the United States Occur and Can Earthquakes Occur In Illinois and Missouri?
  • How Many Earthquakes Occur In the World Each Year and Where Do Most Earthquakes Occur On Earth?

Filed Under: Geography

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Is the Probability of Future Earthquakes Calculated and Can Earthquakes Be Predicted By Geologists?
Next Post: What Is a Tectonic Plate and How Many Tectonic Plates Are There On Earth? »

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