What is the significance of the San Andreas Fault?
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By copying it from Wikipedia.
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The fault is about 25 miles east of the town center. The USGS maps show the fault crossing Highway 46 between a school in Cholame and a water tower.\n\nFrom the TopoZone website below, click view maps, type Paso Robles in the place name field, choose California, then click "search". Click on "Paso Robles" in the table on the next page. You'll be zoomed way in on the map, so select these options on the left:\n\n1:250K Series\nLarge\n1 : 1,000,000\n\nThen click "Update Map". You should see Paso Robles in the center of the map and the San Andreas Fault as a black diagonal line, cutting across the upper right hand corner. There's a bar scale below the map to help you figure out distances.
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Deep-focus earthquakes are associated with convergent plate boundaries (subduction zones).\n\nSee source.
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It happens in the brittle part of the crust, which is not usually deeper than 20 km.\n\nHere's the jist:\n\nIt all comes down to stress and strain. It is not 'the plates rubbing together' as many people say; or at least that's a very simplistic view.\n\nPlate tectonics causes stress on the continents and oceans, all over the surface of the earth. In some places, the stress is very small (usually within the plates). Elsewhere, the stress is high, usually where the plates meet each other. Since each plate moves, when two come in contact, the stress each other. They can push on each other and cause compressional stress, they can pull with extensional stress, and they can slide past or shear each other with tensional stress.\n\nFaulting, causing earthquakes, comes from the fact that this stress is building up all the time, but rocks and continents are strong materials. Just like hitting a rock with a small hammer, you do put stress on it, but a small amount. It would take a sledgehammer to put enough strain (effects and accumulation of stress) to build up and cause breakage. In the earth, the area around an active fault builds up strain from the stress of plate tectonics. Most faults become locked, because of this strength, and thus can not release their strain. Away from the fault, the stress produces very small and slow movement of the rock masses as a whole. Eventually, the strain is too much and the rest of the plate has moved too far and the fault releases the strain build-up all at once in a big stress release called an earthquake. This is called the elastic rebound theory, and it explains most (but not all) movements.\n\nThis is why an earthquake's size is relative to the fault size. The bigger the fault, the bigger the strain build up, and the bigger the release in an earthquake. Subduction zones and collision zones, where large portions of plates actually can rub together as a whole, have the really big earthquakes, like the 2004 Sumatra earthquake. In other plate boundaries, the entire plate boundary does not act together, so the faults become spread out and many faults take up the strain from the tectonic stress, like with the San Andreas Fault in California (it only takes up ~3/4 of the stress between the plates).\n\nEarthquakes are really tricky things; there is still so much we need to learn. As of now, there is no way to predict them, but we can say where the danger is highest and about how long between events.
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It is directly related only to earthquakes.  When a plate boundary ruptures, an earthquake occurs.\n\nIt is indrectly related to volcanism.  Most volcanoes are located on plate boundaries.
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is this what your talking about\n\n\nAn earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stored energy that radiates seismic waves. At the Earth's surface, earthquakes may manifest themselves by a shaking or displacement of the ground and sometimes tsunamis, which may lead to loss of life and destruction of property.\n\nEarthquakes may occur naturally or as a result of human activities. In its most generic sense, the word earthquake is used to describe any seismic event—whether a natural phenomenon or an event caused by humans—that generates seismic waves\n\nEarth (often referred to as "The Earth") is the third planet in the solar system in terms of distance from the Sun, and the fifth in order of size. It is the largest of its planetary system's terrestrial planets and the only place in the universe currently known to support life. The Earth was formed around 4.57 billion (4.57×109)[1] years ago (see Age of the Earth) and its largest natural satellite, the Moon, was orbiting it shortly thereafter, around 4.533 billion years ago.\n\nSince it formed, the Earth has evolved through geologic and biological processes so that any traces of the original conditions have been virtually eliminated. The outer surface is divided into several tectonic plates that gradually migrate across the surface over geologic time spans. The interior of the planet remains active, with a thick layer of molten mantle and an iron core that generates a magnetic field. The atmospheric conditions have been significantly altered by the presence of life forms, which create an ecological balance that modifies the surface conditions. About 70% of the surface is presently covered in salt water oceans, and the remainder consists of continents and islands.\n\nThere is significant interaction between the Earth and the space environment. The relatively large Moon provides ocean tides and has gradually modified the length of the planet's rotation period. A cometary bombardment during the early history of the planet is believed to have formed the oceans. Later, asteroid impacts are understood to have caused significant changes to the surface environment. Changes in the orbit of the planet may also be responsible for the ice ages that have covered significant portions of the surface in glacial sheets.\n\nThe Earth does not have another natural orbiting body other than the Moon, although Cruithne has been erroneously described as such. Cruithne was discovered in 1986 and follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun at about the same average orbital radius as the Earth. However, from the point of view of the moving Earth, Cruithne follows a horseshoe orbit around the Sun that avoids close proximity with the Earth.
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hypocenter\nlearn more at\nhttp://earthquake.usgs.gov/learning/facts.php
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Due to different tectonic plates that move in different directions, the Peninsula was formed. \n\nRight in the middle, the San Andreas fault will continue with the splitting apart of both plates, until the Peninsula and a part of California from the Sea of Cortes up to San Francisco will become an island and continue moving North toward Alaska, while the Continental Plate will continue to slide West in the next 5 million years.
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The entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth.
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The earth is split into plates. Whenever one moves, it will cause all the others to move. It eventually increases the number of earthquakes along a fault line until the plates settle down again. Eh, that's the typical fifth to tenth grade answer.
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Are you referring to tectonic plates?  Geographically, North America is one continent, but geologically there are smaller plates that has been pressed against the main North American plate.  The science is known as plate tectonics.  For instance, the Juan de Fuca plate is one of these.  The Pacific oceanic plate is also moving against the North American plate, and I would guess that the San Andreas Fault marks the boundary between the North American Plate and a mini-plate (technically known as a micro-craton) that has been accreted between the Pacific Plate and North America.\n\nSorry if this is not what you meant.  I'm trying not to be too technical.\n\nGeographically the next continent west of the USA is Asia.
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It didn't occur in San Fransisco.  It occurred along the San Andreas fault.  San Fransisco was just one of the major cities effected.  It happened in October during the World Series.  What are you looking to find out about it?
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The BART system was designed to withstand powerful earthquakes and is pretty rugged. I was at the San Leandro station when the massive Loma Prieta quake hit; it rocked & rolled but aside from a bit of falling concrete downstairs in the lobby there was no damage. Engineers walked the tracks and found no serious problems, even in the Trans-Bay tube. Trains were moving in very short order, but it took ages to repair the Bay Bridge and re-route the collapsed Cypress Freeway.
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The earth's hard surface (commonly called the crust) can be composed of oceanic crust or continental crust.  The two types of crust can form to create plates.  (Refer to plate tectonic theory)\n\nThe creation of the earth's crust can be a result of many processes such as: volcanism (Hawaii/Mt.St. Helens), Rift Zones (Mid-Atlantic Spreading Center), or combinations of the two.\n\nThe boundaries of these plates can convergent (come together), divergent (move apart), or transverse one another (slide past one another). \n\nOne of the most famous boundary between plates is the transverse or strike/slip fault that commonly creates earthquakes in California. The two famous faults are the San Andreas and Hayward faults.  \n\nEarthquakes are simply a build up of forces on these plate boundaries and eventually break.  The "break" is the earthquake  that we feel, the aftershocks can continue after the initial break, but are usually less intense or less strong (see Richter Scale)\n\nTsunamis are the result of deep earthquakes on/or near the ocean floor.  The movement of the fault will move massive amounts of the oceans water table is shifted. This forms a wave that will generate out in all directions.  When the tsunami travels thousands of miles thru the ocean and comes into contact with land it produces large scale waves (anywhere from 20-300+ feet) in height.
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Yes, to a degree. Earthquakes can be predicted using past locations, active faults, geological recurrence times, and fault slip data rates from plate tectonic and satellite data. This level of prediction is time-independent, so it will only give a likelihood of an earthquake's magnitude with path and locational effects. This is useful for building design, land use planning, and estimating earthquake insurance, but it doesn't predict when it will happen. \n\nMore and more data is being collected on past earthquake movement using trenches dug into faults and measuring the traces of paleomovements. Geodetic instruments are now collecting real-time data on the relative movement of various parts of the continent using satellite measurements. As more data is collected it may become easier to add a time-dependent portion to a prediction. The USGS is posting probabilities like this for some faults, but are often leaving the time period open for 50 or more years. \n\nResearch in the US has mostly focused on better understanding earthquakes, especially after an unsuccessful attempt to monitor precursors and predict an earthquake near Parkfield, California. In Japan there has been a growing realization that earthquake prediction may not be realistic in the aftermath of Kobe. In China approximately 30 false alarms have caused major problems and the government is discouraging predictions. \n\nThere are a number of creative methods that have been proposed such as tidal forces, animal behavior, and alignment of planets, but none of these has any statistically proven validity. In fact, many of these predictions are made so broadly that the normal occurrence of earthquakes tends to make them look successful. \n\nYou might want to read this article in Nature:\nhttp://www.nature.com/nature/debates/earthquake/index.html\nand here is a description of the Parkfield effort:\nhttp://www.geophys.washington.edu/SEIS/PNSN/INFO_GENERAL/eq_prediction.html
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Yes and no!\n\nYes - the amount of energy released when the fault slips dictates the force of the shock waves.\n\nBut the No is also important.   A deep high magnitude earthquake may not rattle a cup because most of it's energy is absorbed before it reaches the surface.  Where a relatively much lighter earthquake on the surface could cause devesatation.
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Geologic faults or simply faults are planar rock fractures which show evidence of relative movement. Large faults within the Earth's crust are the result of shear motion and active fault zones are the causal locations of most earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by energy release during rapid slippage along faults. The largest examples are at tectonic plate boundaries, but many faults occur far from active plate boundaries. Since faults usually do not consist of a single, clean fracture, the term fault zone is used when referring to the zone of complex deformation associated with the fault plane.\n\nThe two sides of a fault are called the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the hanging wall occurs above the fault and the footwall occurs below the fault.\n\n\nStrike-slip faults\nThe fault surface is usually near vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very small vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are also known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are also known as dextral faults. A special class of strike-slip faults is the transform faults which are a plate tectonics feature related to spreading centers such as mid-ocean ridges.\n\n(i wish i could type the photo i have as well)