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LITHOEN

Fault

San Andreas Fault

Also known as San Andreas fault zone

A transform fault zone slicing through two thirds of the length of California, connecting divergent boundaries to its north and south; one of the few transform faults exposed on land.

Classification

fault class
strikeSlip

How this record is known

3
Settled consensus
Cited as the accepted position of the discipline.

3 of 3 claims on this page cite at least one registered source. Counts describe how each statement is known, not how likely it is to be true.

What Lithoen records

Each claim states how it is known and cites its evidence.

Established1,300 km

The San Andreas fault zone is about 1,300 kilometres long and in places tens of kilometres wide.

  • precision note: About 1,300 km, as stated by the source.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

EstablishedHorizontal strike-slip motion, with no crust created or destroyed.

General principle, shown here for context — not an observation about this record.

At a transform boundary such as the San Andreas, two plates slide horizontally past one another and crust is neither produced nor destroyed.

  • generality: GENERAL_PRINCIPLE

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

Established5 cm/yr

The Pacific Plate has been grinding horizontally past the North American Plate along the San Andreas fault zone for 10 million years, at an average rate of about 5 centimetres per year.

  • reference frame: Pacific Plate relative to the North American Plate.
  • precision note: Average over the past 10 million years, as stated by the source.

Evidence support: Supported by the cited evidence one source

Evidence: Kious 1996 Primary authority

In the knowledge graph

Record last updated 2026-09-06. Corrections follow the published corrections policy; superseded claims are retained, never silently edited.