Visit the San Andreas Fault

Visiting the fault is easy. All it takes is a decent car. No 4WD is necessary unless you want to get to a few difficult places, and most of these are just a short hike from a public road. In some places like the Morongo Indian Reservation or the San Bernardino Mountains, you are not permitted entry or there simply are no public roads (but you can back pack in or day hike). Otherwise, access is a breeze. Many sections of the fault are in National Parks, National Forests or on BLM land. With hundreds of miles of mostly quiet, scenic roads, you'll see dramatic land forms, horribly twisted rock, and lots of wildlife and flowers.

Alternatively, many parks and nature centers offer one day field trips to the SAF on an annual basis. Such trips give you the chance to talk to a geologist. Check with them well in advance to see if they are planning a trip.

Finding the fault is relatively easy. Seeing the fault is another matter. The SAF has not had a major ground-rupturing earthquake since 1906. Virtually all traces of the "giant crack in the ground" that so many people image the SAF to be have been erased. Erosion fills and covers the fault, plows and bulldozers reshape the surface, roads and neighborhoods are built on the fault. The actual surface trace of the fault is subtle. What one has to look for are the land forms that the plate motion has created.

These include but are not limited to offset streams and channels, pressure ridges, scarps, different rocks on either side of the fault, fault gouge, sags and sag ponds.

Source: http://www.sanandreasfault.org/Visit.html

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Posted by: Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@gmail.com>

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