• Key Information

  • San Andreas Fault

  • Type
    Fault Line
  • Length
    750 miles
  • Displacement
    0.79 to 1.38 inches per year
  • Learning Point
  • The San Andreas Fault Line is a long crack in the surface of the Earth near San Francisco where frequent earthquakes and land movement occurs. The fault is two different plates of land moving in opposite directions.
  • Project
  • Draw the fault showing what it does to the surrounding land.
  • Location
  • Located in
    California, United States
  • Fun Facts
  • The fault line was named after the San Andreas Valley by Professor Andrew Lawson who identified the cracks as a fault line.
  • The land movement each year can be almost one a half inches.
  • Some of the biggest earthquakes in the USA have occured along the fault line, including the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
  • The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco destroyed 80% of the city, cost 3,000 lives many of which died as a result of devastating fires that started after the earthquake.
  • The Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, California are evidence of the San Andreas Fault.