Location: San Andreas Fault (Transform Boundary)

Today, I visited my first destination. It was the San Andreas Fault, located on the coast of California. The latitude and longitude points are  39 00'16.35"N 123 41'48.00"W. The border was on the west side of the North American Plate, as shown in the picture below.This boundary is called a Transform boundary. It is when two plates, in this case the North American and Pacific, are sliding past each other. Southwestern California is a part of the Pacific Plate, which is moving northwest. The rest of the US is part of the North American Plate, which is moving south east. At this boundary, fractures will typically occur.There have been many notable earthquakes near this area. The most notable quake in this area is most likely the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. During this quake, about 267 miles were rupture in Northern California. The magnitude was approximately 7.8. More than three thousand people died in the quake and subsequent fires.

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/images/Transformfaults.gif