Tectonics and Structural Geology

San Andreas Fault

TS Must-Read – Sylvester (1988) Strike-slip faults

The Must-read team June 30, 2021

Strike-slip faults by Arthur Sylvester (1988) is a must-read paper for anyone, and more so for those who want to understand the mechanisms of strike-slip faulting. Although it mostly refers to the San Andreas fault, the most studied strike-slip fault at the time (and possibly to date), the contribution is a comprehensive review of the state of the art about strike-slip faults in general. Sylvester ...[Read More]

San Francisco: Where the Plates Meet

William Elder November 30, 2020

View on the Golden Gate Bridge from the Presidio of San Francisco, showing the serpentine bluffs on the foreground, Fort Point under the arch of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands on the far side. Credit: William Elder.

San Francisco has been a natural gathering place for people across the millennia. It is not a coincidence that this city, situated at the entrance to the largest estuary on the U.S. West Coast, owes its dramatic setting to active geology on the North American plate margin. The first people of the San Francisco Peninsula, the Ramaytush Ohlone, cared for the land here for thousands of years before E ...[Read More]