Could a big enough earthquake on the San Andreas fault make everything west of it fall into the ocean?

Question

I mean, what could potentially fall into the ocean? How deep would it go? Are there any graphics available to show the shelf overhang that the coast of California is on?

Answer 1

The keywords here are BIG ENOUGH. Sure, anything big enough is big enough to do anything. Alas for you, 'tis almost an impossibility for several reasons. First of all, the fault slips relative north and south, not up and down or spreading. It is not a diverging plate it is a transform fault. Second, it is impossible for rocks to store enough energy to keep elastic rebound in check long enough for such a "big enough" event to occur. You can sleep well tonight knowing if you are in that part of California you will only die from a smaller tectonic event.

Answer 2

Here is the short answer.

the san andreas is a "strike slip" fault, that is the major motion is horizontal, not vertical. a really big quake will dispace land west of the fault ie Los Angeles north and east of the fault ie San Francisco south. After many eons, LA and SF could litterally be neighbors, but nothing will fall into the sea.

Answer 3

it would have to be impossibly big for that to happen like a 12.5. and these would have to occur over the entire length of the fault. but it ll have to be a fault that stretches half way across the planet and extremely deep, like 200, 300 miles.

or if a 500 mile wide asteroid hit the fault. that could provide enough force to shove California off, if it doesn't melt first, but that is highly unlikely

Answer 4

The answer is NO.... apocolyptic idiots with no training in or understanding of geology have been making this claim for years. It ain't gonna happen, so relax. Note however, that there will continue to be major earthquakes from time to time on the San Andreas system.

Answer 5

well put it this way california will be a island

Answer 6

oh gosh i hope that doesn't happen.