Welcome to our California Earthquakes Web Page!
Site created by: Robert Stoner, David Lambert, and Jacob Hayes
On this website, you will learn about what earthquakes are, where they occur, how sound waves are related to earthquakes, what kind of energy is transferred, and what the different types of waves are!
Earthquakes in California: The San Andreas Fault
Every day in California, there is an earthquake happening at almost any given time. You might not always feel them or hear them, but that doesn't mean they aren't there!
Earthquakes do not occur at specific times, there are places in California that earthquakes occur more often however. This place is known as the San Andreas fault, as shown the the picture to the left. The red line shows exactly where the fault lays. Imagine having two bricks in your hands and sliding them across each other, you can see bits of brick fall off and feel them vibrate on your hands a little, this is basically what is happening here. The vibrations you feel, although as non-powerful as they are, you can imagine them as being small earthquakes.
The fault moves only a few inches every year. If you heard that someday the outer half of the fault would break off and fall into the sea, that is wrong, there is no way that could happen because California is not floating.
Earthquakes do not occur at specific times, there are places in California that earthquakes occur more often however. This place is known as the San Andreas fault, as shown the the picture to the left. The red line shows exactly where the fault lays. Imagine having two bricks in your hands and sliding them across each other, you can see bits of brick fall off and feel them vibrate on your hands a little, this is basically what is happening here. The vibrations you feel, although as non-powerful as they are, you can imagine them as being small earthquakes.
The fault moves only a few inches every year. If you heard that someday the outer half of the fault would break off and fall into the sea, that is wrong, there is no way that could happen because California is not floating.
Did you know?
- The largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 28, 1967.
- The largest earthquake EVER recorded had a magnitude of 9.5 and it occurred on May 22, 1960 in Chile?
- Earthquakes do occur on the moon, they are called "Moonquakes" and do not occur as often as earthquakes on earth and usually have smaller magnitudes.
- It was thought that there was more damaged caused from the fires from the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 than the earthquake itself?
- Every year in southern California, there are about 10,000 earthquakes each year. Most of them cannot even be felt!
- The worlds deadliest earthquake ever recorded occurred in central China in 1556. It killed an estimated 830,000 people.
To see the latest earthquakes happening in California, click on the button below!
To see where earthquakes are happening all over the world, click on the button below!