San Jacinto Fault Zone

E63190

The San Jacinto Fault Zone is a major active strike-slip fault system in Southern California that accommodates a significant portion of the region’s tectonic motion and poses substantial earthquake hazard.

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
influenced by San Jacinto Fault Zone 1

Statements (51)

Predicate Object
instanceOf geologic fault
plate boundary fault
strike-slip fault zone
accommodates significant portion of Pacific–North American plate motion
age Late Cenozoic
associatedWith San Jacinto Mountains uplift
country United States of America
surface form: United States
deformationStyle brittle crustal faulting
discovered late 19th century
displacementRate about 10–20 millimeters per year
earthquakeHistory numerous moderate to strong earthquakes in historic time
earthquakePotential large damaging earthquakes
formsBoundaryBetween San Jacinto Mountains and Inland valleys
hazard major earthquake hazard in Southern California
length approximately 130 miles
approximately 210 kilometers
locatedIn Southern California
maximumMagnitudeEstimate around magnitude 7.5
monitoredBy California Integrated Seismic Network
surface form: Southern California Seismic Network

United States Geological Survey
motionType right-lateral strike-slip
namedAfter San Jacinto Mountains
notableEarthquake 1918 San Jacinto earthquake
1937 Terwilliger Valley earthquake
1968 Borrego Mountain earthquake
1987 Superstition Hills earthquake sequence
orientation northwest–southeast
parallelTo San Andreas Fault
partOf San Andreas fault system
passesNear Anza Valley
surface form: Anza

Hemet
Riverside
San Bernardino
San Jacinto, California
plateBoundaryType transform
region Inland Empire
Peninsular Ranges
relativeSlipRate one of the fastest-slipping faults in Southern California
riskTo densely populated areas of Southern California
segment Anza segment
Borrego segment
Clark segment
Coyote Creek (Santa Clara County)
surface form: Coyote Creek segment

San Bernardino segment
San Jacinto Valley
surface form: San Jacinto Valley segment

Superstition Mountain segment
seismicActivity high
tectonicRole accommodates part of shear between Pacific and North American plates
tectonicSetting Pacific–North American plate boundary system
surface form: Pacific–North American plate boundary
terminatesNear Imperial Valley
trend northwest

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

San Jacinto Mountains associatedWith San Jacinto Fault Zone
Transverse Ranges crossedBy San Jacinto Fault Zone
Salton Trough near San Jacinto Fault Zone
San Bernardino Valley seismicActivity San Jacinto Fault Zone
this entity surface form: influenced by San Jacinto Fault Zone