The records of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake explain why damage …show more content…
The location consists of two plates meeting in western California. The boundary between them is a zone of faults, the principal one being the San Andreas fault. The San Andreas fault is a strike slip fault. The Pacific Plate which is on the west, slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate located on the east. This causes earthquakes along the San Andreas and its associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary; it accommodates horizontal relative motions. The 1906 earthquake ruptured all locked segments of the fault in northern California. The amount of horizontal slip varied from 2 to 32 feet (0.5 m to 9.7 m). Its sheer size ruptured the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault (USGS). The shaking the earthquake had on San Francisco caused many damages, leaving the people horrified. Now we can determine what caused these …show more content…
However, rates dropped dramatically after the 1906 earthquake. Scientists believe the large stress release of the 1906 earthquake also relieved stresses on faults throughout the Bay Area. In 2003, earthquake scientists led by the USGS estimated that there is a 62% probability of a magnitude 6.7 or greater earthquake in the Bay Area in the next 30 years. Seismologists cannot predict when an earthquake will occur but that can assume why and how it will happen. Geologist have confirmed is knowing where in the world they are likely to happen. They have good estimates of the expected long-term rates of