Faults of Southern California

Below is a map of southern California, with five regions highlighted: 1. Southern Coast Ranges and Central Valley area is orange. 2. Sierra Nevada and Basin and Range area is green. 3. Mojave region is yellow. 4. Extreme southern end of California is red. 5. Los Angeles area is blue-violet. This map is clickable. Clicking on a region will take you to an enlarged relief map of the area, with local faults highlighted in a variety of colors, and linked to pages detailing information about these faults. In all of the maps, that segment of the San Andreas fault which is visible will be red, and scales for distances and elevations will be given. A few city and highway labels will also appear on the smaller maps. These maps were created using public-domain fault data which was modified by hand to more accurately reflect our current understanding of California's fault system. The 1994 Fault Activity Map of California and Adjacent Areas by Charles W. Jennings (available from the California Geological Survey ) was used as a guide. These maps should not be considered as zoning guides, nor be used for risk assessment. Because of the sheer number of faults in southern California, this is not an exhaustive collection. The faults featured within this section were chosen typically because they are larger and/or exhibit more recent offset than others. Most, if not all, of this material has a certain level of uncertainty to it. Our understanding of faults is constantly expanding, and new faults and better data may be added to these maps as our knowledge about these structures advances. Note: Some browsers may distort the color palette of these images. If the elevation scale seems "odd" or "wrong", you may be experiencing this problem. Also, to use these imagemaps your browser must be compatible with client-side imagemaps. Comments are welcome. RELATED INFORMATION Alphabetical Fault Index Historic Earthquakes in Southern California
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