1906 San Andreas Fault

Home to one of the most known fault lines in California is the San Andres fault line. Known for its disastrous earthquakes San Andres is noted as the most dangerous geological feature as stated in How the Earth was Made. The San Andreas Fault is a fault zone where two tectonic plates known as the Pacific Plate and the North American plate meet. San Andreas was born when these two plates were forced to change direction and started sliding against each other forming the San Andreas fault line 20 million years ago.This fault zone is 800 miles long and runs all the way from Northern California to Southern California affecting many major cities surrounding such as San Francisco or Los Angeles. San Andres has caused the most disastrous earthquakes on the west coast of the United States and to understand it,one must examine its’ history. What San Andres is truly known for is the earthquakes that happen along its fault lines. In detail an earthquake is basically caused by a rupture in a fault which in this case is the San Andres fault. San Andres is known as a transform fault where two plates meet. After the rupture in the fault the build up stress in the earth’s outer layer causes rocks to slip or rub against each other releasing energy. This released energy causes the seismic waves

The 1906 San Francisco\destroyed and devastated the city and people of San Francisco. The earthquake first shook and brought down the city, then the fires caused by the earthquake burned it down. In 1906 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco that lasted less than a minute. The aftershocks left the city burning, 28,000 thousand buildings destroyed and 3,000 people dead. Also it left behind millions of dollars of damage and clean up for the city of San Francisco. After this earthquake many questioned what caused this disaster and they would soon find