EES 0836 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: San Andreas Fault, Plate Tectonics, Pacific Plate

• School: Temple University
• Department: Earth & Environmental Science
• Course: EES 0836
• Professor: Karen

Document Summary

Earthquakes are a sudden slip along a fault (a break in the crust of the earth) A sudden release of energy stored energy. Movement of the earth along both sides of the fault. They run a certain length along a fault. Their impact is dependent on size, ground type, depth and many other factors. Planes of weakness in the earth"s crust. Places where blocks of the earth"s crust (rocks) are broken and move against each other, causing them to be displaced. Faults tend to be on or near plate boundaries. But plate boundaries are not just one big break in the crust. There are many complex breaks in the rocks along plate boundaries. The san andreas fault is a boundary between the n. a. and pacific plates. But many faults run near the sa, because tectonic plate motion is immensely powerful.