San Diego And The San Andreas Fault System

For this reason the climate of San Diego is generally mild and dry throughout the year. In essence San Diego is mostly sunny, dry, and warm, most days of the year. High temperature range from lows of 65 degrees F to highs of 76 degrees F. There are only a few days of precipitation per month during the months of December through March.

The San Andreas fault line has caused constant development nightmares for large urban areas such as San Francisco as well as the other cities built on top of it. Fault lines are one of the side effects of the earth’s tectonic plates shifting that can result in devastating earthquakes. Some of the most devastating earthquakes in our modern era have occurred along the San Andreas fault line due to a dense population. The most notable and destructive earthquake on the San Andreas fault line occurred in San Francisco in 1906. The reason this earthquake was so deadly was because of its magnitude and the city’s poor planning. This earthquake was a wakeup call for San Francisco and force the city to revolutionize its knowledge on earthquakes and how to protect their city. Today San Francisco is one of the most well prepared cities for an earthquake and has made great discoveries in earthquake safety measures. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco has drastically changed how the city has developed its zoning and building code policies, and its earthquake research.

With its year-round tropical climate, San Diego, California, is one of the most popular vacation spots for tourists around the globe. From sailing and hiking to surfing and skiing, the city offers a plethora of activities. What's more is that San Diego is a hop, skip and a jump away from Tijuana-an exciting alternative to California living.

California’s unique geography as a state makes it a very appealing place to call home. From the odd east to west transverse San Gabriel mountain ranges of the Los Angeles Basin, to the bumpy coastal ranges of the Bay Area, any person can find a compatible topographic terrain to their liking. California may seem to be the perfect place to live with its ideal climate and extensive geographic features. However, due to California’s location over the shifting continental plates, coupled with its enormous and also multiple faults, at any time this great state can fall victim to a seismic disaster. After examining evidence from both Rong-Gong Lin’s II Los Angeles Times article of April 18, 2016 and the NOVA videos Killer Quake ( 2006), Earthquake (2007), as well as Geologic Journey II – Episode 3 (The Pacific Rim: Americas) – Part 3 (San Francisco) and The Great San Francisco Earthquake (American Experience ~ 2005), one can take a comparative account of the three major earthquakes of California’s past. Although each earthquake was very devastating on is own; the Great Quake 0f 1906, the Loma Prieta quake of 1989, and the NorthRidge quake of 1994 each amounted to an extensive forfeiture of property and life. Each of these earthquakes created much suffering and loss. It is imperative for each citizen of this great state to understand the damage that a California quake can actually do and be prepared; for the threat of one always looms.

If you were like me, you would never have thought that Mississippi would ever have to deal

The formation of San Diego region involved numerous activities which varied from volcano activities, the formation of Gulf, uplifting and tilting among others. These activities happened in a long span of time creating three distinct geomorphic regions: the west of peninsular rangers, peninsular ranges region, and the Salton Trough region. The geomorphic division reflects the basic difference amid geographic parts containing Mesozoic metavolcanic, metasedimentary, and plutonic rock material. The development of these features resulted to the occurrence of the current San Diego state. The integration of different rocks, volcanic activities, and subduction processes resulted to the development of peninsular region and Salton Trough.

The San Francisco earthquake on April 18, 1906 was one of the most devastating earthquakes felt by a lot of states. At 5:15 am, this earthquake which registered at 8.25 on the Richter Scale shook San Francisco, California. The earthquake lasted less than a minute and it did a lot of destruction in that period of time. The most destructive part during the San Francisco earthquake was the fires which began after, as a result of the earthquake. The fires killed about 3,000 people and left 400,000 homeless (San Francisco Earthquake). The San Francisco earthquake epicenter was located near San Andreas fault and as a result, the damages caused by the earthquake was felt many miles along the San Andreas fault line. The city of San Francisco was known for its culture and economy, and because of the impact of the earthquake and fire, the city was in total disaster. Because of the magnitude of the earthquake and the amount of damage it did to the city of San Francisco, a lot of data and digital images have been collected so that it can be used for references and be displayed at its anniversary.

The San Andreas Fault is a geologic fault zone between two tectonic plates that runs from San Francisco south to San Diego in California. It is an area of frequent earthquakes caused by the plates sliding past each other. It is so called because it runs along the San Andreas Valley. The San Andreas fault was brought dramatically to world attention in 1906 when sudden displacement along the fault produced the great San Francisco earthquake and fire. This earthquake was but one of many that have resulted throughout its life of about 15-20 million years. The entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least 10 miles within the Earth. The fault is a complex zone of crushed and broken rock from a few hundred feet to a mile wide. Many smaller faults branch from and join the San Andreas fault zone. The Pacific plate is moving northwest in relation to the North American plate, and it is believed that the total displacement along the fault since its formation more than 30 million years ago has been about 350 mi. Movement along the fault causes earthquakes several thousand occur annually. The earth moves side to side from time to time because its outer shell is broken into huge, solid plates floating on a layer of molten rock that has the consistency of slime. These tectonic plates are constantly jostling each other, like rafts crowded into a small pond, and its along the boundaries where they meet that most quakes are born. The two plates

San Diego County is in Southern California. Mountains, beaches and deserts are all within an hour’s drive from anywhere in the county. San Diego is the second largest city in California measuring 4200 square miles. Average temperatures are 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit year round. (Wikipedia, 2013) We have warm dry summers and mild winters with relatively low rainfall averages (when compared to other cities) of 10-14 inches. Air quality in San Diego is ranked as good to moderate. San Diego’s drinking water is poor, ranking 9th of 10 cities with the worst drinking water in the nation. (County

On August 24, 2014 a magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred in and around the city of Napa, CA. The earthquake killed one person and injured over 150 people. And these people were treated at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa [1]. More and more earthquakes occurred on this earth. So this grasps people’s attention.

The tectonic setting for the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was in the outermost shell of earth consisting of rigid plates that have been moving for hundreds of millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is a zone of faults, the principal one being the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary, accommodating horizontal relative motions (usgs.gov).

Large pools of Magma formed and cooled into Granitic rock and into what we now know as the Peninsula Range batholiths. After this period, the angle of subduction between the faralon plate and the North American Plate flattened and this greatly slowed the formation of any more mountains in San Diego. At 90 million years ago, the mountains that were formed in San Diego country began to erode and much of the sediment was deposited along the shoreline, extending it to the west. At 70 million years ago, the large coastal plain created by the eroded mountains sank into the ocean and were eroded, the Cabrillo and point Loma formations were a result of this period. Erosion continues as the subduction zone flattens and plays even less of a role and geologic activity is relatively calm until the beginning of the extension phase.

The 9th of February 1971 an earthquake occurred in the lower parts of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The San Fernando earthquake was measured to have a magnitude of around 6.5, which caused severe damage to buildings and major freeways in the Los Angeles area. Two huge health care buildings in San Fernando caused the majority of deaths when they collapsed at both sides. The epicenter of the earthquake was located in the mountains and the most severe damages occurred in northern San Fernando Valley. However, the event impacted other densely populated areas in Los Angeles and caused huge difficulty for transportation as a result of failure in several roadways and freeway interchanges.

San Diego is known for its beaches, numerous attractions, multiple eateries, and scenic views. Even though it is known as “America’s Finest City”, a large problem is occurring all throughout our neighborhoods. With 8,692 sheltered and unsheltered people calling the streets their home, as of January 29,2016, homelessness is one of the largest and most well-known issue throughout the city (Black et al, 1). Likewise, depending on which studies you are looking at, San Diego is ranked number 3 or 4 with the highest homeless population in the country (McElroy,2016). In downtown, where a majority of the homeless individuals reside, this problem not only effects the appearance of the city, but can also have an impact on the local businesses and hotels.

The Northridge earthquake in 1994 caused widespread damage to not only the northern ridge area of Los Angeles but created major transportation issues for surrounding communities.