A Land In Motion. California'S San Andreas Fault

"THE SAN ANDREAS is the grinding, growling interface between two great pieces of the earth's crust, each moving its separate way. This is the fault that has cleaved volcanoes, opened seaways, and split mountains. And yet, driving south of Paicines on California Highway 25, I wasn't sure just where it was". So begins Michael Collier's quest to see and understand the San Andreas Fault, the legendary geologic reality that looms large in the lives of all Californians, try as they may to keep the knowledge of its power at a remove from their daily activities. Join him on his journey, and meet the fault and the people who study it. This book will give the reader a new appreciation for science's practical applicability as well as nature's authority. The San Andreas Fault - running nearly the entire length of western California, from just north of the Mexican border to the Mendocino coast - is the most famous fault on earth. An active tectonic boundary, it directly affects the lives of more than twenty million people. Movement along this fault has the capacity to destroy communities along and near its path. The San Andreas Fault has shaped much that is beautiful about California as well Mendocino, Point Reyes National Seashore, Tomales Bay, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Pinnacles National Monument, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Joshua Tree National Park, and more. These landscapes are captured in author Michael Collier's stunning aerial Photographs. As he tours the length of the fault, Collier provides a valuable overview of plate tectonics and a cogent geologic history of the fault, written for the non-scientist. He discusses the evolution of seismology and traces the knowledge that scientists have gleaned about earthquakes and plate tectonics from their work on the San Andreas. As he concludes, "Each generation adds its experience to a collective human understanding of the processes involved.... But life and, so far, earthquakes are unpredictable". Unpredictable though they may be for now, earthquakes and the San Andreas are made much more understandable by this clearly written and beautifully illustrated book.