San Andreas Fault - San Juan Bautista, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 36° 50.746 W 121° 32.117
10S E 630591 N 4078764
The famous San Andreas Fault is over 800 miles long and passes near the Mission San Juan Bautista.
Waymark Code: WMRTX5
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2016
Views: 8
A marker sponsored by several organizations including the U.S. Geological Survey, is located in front of the Mission San Juan Bautista church and looks out upon the valley formed by the San Andreas fault in this area. The plaque marks the commemoration of the U.S. Geological Survey's Centennial in 1979.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 800 miles (1,300 km) through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal). The fault divides into three segments, each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk, the most significant being the southern segment, which passes within about 35 miles (56 km) of Los Angeles.
The fault was first identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley, who discovered the northern zone. It is often described as having been named after San Andreas Lake, a small body of water that was formed in a valley between the two plates. However, according to some of his reports from 1895 and 1908, Lawson actually named it after the surrounding San Andreas Valley. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extended all the way into southern California.
In 1953, geologist Thomas Dibblee astounded the scientific establishment with his conclusion that hundreds of miles of lateral movement could occur along the fault. A project called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) near Parkfield, Monterey County, is drilling into the fault to improve prediction and recording of future earthquakes."