San Francisco Earthquake of 1906

Location

• Felt from Oregon to Los Angeles and as far inland as Nevada- 200,000 miles
• Pacific plate and North American plate

History

• One of the worst disasters in US history
• Fires lasted for 4 days- main damage
• $400 million in property losses- 200,000 people lost their homes
• 3,000 people died and 80% of city destroyed
• Abundance of scientific knowledge were learned from it

Geologic Formation

• Caused by the subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American
• San Andreas Fault marks boundary between Pacific and North American plates- causes earthquakes
• Epicenter of earthquake was near San Francisco Bay

Catastrophism

• very sudden earthquake that lasted for about a minute
• had a magnitude of 7.8 and an intensity of XI or Extreme

Destructive Force

• Ruptured the San Andreas Fault for about 296 miles
• Destroyed many land forms and big loss of life