Finding Fault in California: An Earthquake Tourist's Guide

by Susan Elizabeth Hough

California has plenty of faults�seismic faults, that is. They shear the Golden State into ribbons and have largely crafted California�s geologically rich, diverse, and dynamic landscape. With humor and ease, Finding Fault in California leads the earthquake curious to the state�s most accessible, active, and earth-shaping faults and tells the stories behind the major temblors that have shaken the region.
The book begins with a discussion about what faults are and how to recognize them. Geologic tours follow, exploring the seismic hazards of the Los Angeles Basin, the San Francisco Bay Area, central California, the Mojave Desert, and the Owens Valley. Amateur fault finders can view such features as a seismically dissected hill in the Mojave Desert, a neighborhood that is slowly being wrenched in two by the creeping Calaveras fault, and the now-landscaped surface rupture from the 1971 San Fernando quake in a McDonald�s parking lot. Photos, maps, diagrams(most with precise GPS coordinates), illustrate the conversational text.

Genres: Geology

263 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2004

Reviews

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author includes a lot of different approaches and materials to help the reader find and understand California's fault. Dividing the state into several broad regions, she describes a mile-by-mile trace of California's faults, especially where they are easy to find along highways or in towns. Every chapter is full of maps of the faults and photographs of major features. There are diagrams showing how various tectonic features work, seismographic readings, and other scientific data. In addition, the text includes many fascinating diversions about historical seismology, how scientists make inferences about the fault systems, and present-day questions and controversies.

One concern: this book is rather old, and I wonder how much 20 years of LIDAR has helped geoscientists flesh out some of the questions and controversies from the 90s. Also, even with the maps and the mile-by-mile descriptions, it was sometimes still difficult for me to visualize the layout of faults and topography that I have not personally seen.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty bad. Better books: A land in motion : California's San Andreas Fault by Michael Collier, who is a great aerial photographer, and had good help from USGS.