The San Andreas Fault:

Cause, Effects, and Mitigation of the fault line in Southern California

Geo 1700
Dallas Jordan
Kiara Colqui
Alex Bumpus
Ha Doan
 The San Andreas Fault resides in central California, which is the boundary of the North

American and Pacific plate (Zoback, 1987). The Pacific plate is moving northwest at an average

7 to 11 centimeters per year while the North American plate is moving west 2.3 centimeters a

year south. This is causing a right lateral transform fault (Zoback, 1987). The strike slip fault is

popular due to its location in California and that the plate boundary that is on land, making it

easy to study. This 800-mile fault has intrigued scientist and Hollywood, leading to the

production of the San Andreas Fault movie by Brad Peyton. This paper will go over how the

movie predicted the separation of the two fault lines as well as the causes, effects, and mitigation

associated with the San Andreas Fault.

San Andreas was about a family man who works for fire and rescue and has to rescue his

ex wife and daughter during one of the biggest earthquakes in the U.S. The movies takes place in

Los Angeles, California where the main characters lives and San Francisco. The main characters

are the family, seismologists and professors from a university, and a reporter. The most

important part of the movie is when the Seismologists find small earthquake activity near the

Hoover Dam in Nevada. Once they reach Nevada a bigger earthquake hits destroying the hoover

dam, which is later discovered as the trigger to the San Andreas fault activating. After the first

earthquake a second earthquake is triggered in Los Angeles and along the San Andreas fault line

leading to San Francisco. The seismologist teams up with the reporter to broadcast his research

and warn the public about the third bigger earthquake that will happen after the second. During

this time the main character is recusing his wife and looking for his daughter who is in San

Francisco. The earthquake in LA cause a lot of building damage and collapse and many injuries

and death which continues to San Fran. The main characters reunite after a huge tsunami hits the
coast of San Fran. The movies end with them on the safe zone and out of the city, watching the

horizon and thinking about what comes next for California.

As we watched the movie many of the hazards or effects after the earthquakes were

pretty probable, such as the building damage and some collapsing, but not every skyscraper that

fell was made to withstand an earthquake. The Hoover Dam getting completely destroyed is

mostly likely unable to happen and that one earthquake may not be able to trigger the whole fault

because there have been many earthquakes in that same region throughout the years . Also the

earthquake triggering a tsunami can happen but not as huge as in the movie because the fault is

land bound and not in the ocean.

In the movie San Andreas, there were two causes for the disaster and destruction. First,

there were earthquakes. The earthquakes were described as a “swarm event” by the geologist in

the movie. A swarm event is a rapid succession of different earthquakes from different focus

points, meaning that aftershocks do not qualify as part of the swarm event. In the movie,

earthquakes were occurred consecutively along the San Andreas fault. In the movie they used

some creative license and added a portion to the fault to include the Hoover Dam in the

destruction. The San Andreas Fault is a part of a transform plate boundary. A transform plate

boundary is where two plates slide past each other horizontally. The friction caused by the

sliding is called shear stress. (Mount 1987.) This is what causes earthquakes. The San Andreas

fault is very active and has produced some large earthquakes before, but in this movie, the entire

plate boundary shifted, causing many major earthquakes all along the fault. The second part of

the disaster was the tsunami. The tsunami was an effect of the earthquakes felt along the fault.

The earthquake sends a shockwave, displacing water as it travels. The water builds up until it

comes to a shoreline, where it grows and slows down creating a powerful wall of water. An
earthquake of this magnitude has never been observed in history but the effects of that size

earthquake would certainly devastate urban areas like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Effects

- The U.S. Geological survey modelled a 7.8 , magnitude event, with slippage of 2-7

metres, to represent the stress that have built up in the area since the last large event.

- There are several example of possible effects.

- There are affected by this slippage, which are the 966 roads, 90 fibre optic cables, 39 gas

pipes and 141 power lines that cross the fault zone.

- The damage from resulting fires is estimated as more costly than that resulting from the

initial shaking.

- The overall death toll is estimated at 1,800. And just when things don’t look like they can

get any worse the main event will have destabilized the tectonics of the region to such an

extent that a series of potentially powerful aftershocks will begin.

- For example, in 2001, christchurch, New Zealand was struck by a 6.2 magnitude event

and since then the city and surrounding region have experienced more than 10.000

aftershocks.

- When the next San Andreas earthquake happens, the damage will be significant and

southern California will be massively affected.

- This earthquake will cause violent shaking building damage, fires, and widespread

economic impacts as the region is out of action for potentially along period of time.

In California, alone 10,000 earthquakes occur every year, of which 15-20 are above a 4.0

magnitude (Anderson, 1971). This kind of seismic activity requires research and mitigation so
that heavily populated areas in southern California, such as Los Angeles, know how to handle an

earthquake. In Parkfield, California, research began on the fault by the San Andreas Fault

Observatory at Depths (SAFOD). They drilled into the fault around two miles down to get a

better look at what the fault was made of (Anderson, 1971). Rocks brought to the surface by the

project that revealed they were slippery clays that contributed to the creeping behavior of the two

faults. This research is just one-way to analyze the earthquake since there is no way to particular

stop anyone from occurring; we can only educate and fortify our buildings.

The California Residential Mitigation Program (CRMP) was set up to help assist

residents in the event of an earthquake. The Brace + Bolt program offered by CRMP offers

homeowners 3000 in order to cover cost associated with earthquake retrofitting. This allows

homeowners to reinforce their house making it more resistant to ground shaking and soil failure

by bolting their home to the foundation and adding bracing around the perimeter (Earthquake

Preparedness, 2018). There are also web resources that walk residents through securing and

preparing the home, workplace, and schools for seismic activity. Some of the advice given is to

figure out how affected by the earthquake your home will be depending on its location.

Workplaces are encouraged to have emergency plans. Teachers and schools do drill regular to

prepare students for an earthquake while away from home. The state of California mitigates by

educating and preparing residents on earthquakes and researching further into the fault line.

References Cited

Anderson, D. (1971). THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT. Scientific American, 225(5), 52-71.

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Blackett, Matthew. “The San Andreas Fault Is about to Crack – Here's What Will Happen

When It Does.” The Conversation, 22 Mar. 2018, theconversation.com/the-san-andreas-fault-is-

about-to-crack-heres-what-will-happen-when-it-does-58975.

Earthquake Preparedness. Governor’s Office for Emergency Services: CAL OES. Retrieved from

http://www.caloes.ca.gov/for-individuals-families/earthquake-preparedness

Van S. Mount, John Suppe; State of stress near the San Andreas fault: Implications for

wrench tectonics. Geology ; 15 (12): 1143–1146. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-

7613(1987)15<1143:SOSNTS>2.0.CO;2

Zoback, M., Zoback, M., Mount, V., Suppe, J., Eaton, J., Healy, J., . . . Wentworth, C. (1987).

New Evidence on the State of Stress of the San Andreas Fault System. Science, 238(4830), 1105-

1111. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/1700849