The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) is a research project that began in 2002 aimed at collecting geological data about the

San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...

for the purpose of predicting and analyzing future

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s. The site consists of a pilot hole and a main hole. Drilling operations ceased in 2007. Located near the town of

Parkfield, California Parkfield (formerly Russelsville) is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. It is located on Little Cholame Creek east of Bradley, at an elevation of . As of 2007, road signs announce the population as 18. Parkfield is loc ...

, the project has installed geophone sensors and GPS clocks in a borehole that cuts directly through the fault. This data, along with samples collected during drilling, could shed new light on

geochemical Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the e ...

and mechanical properties around the fault zone. SAFOD is part of

Earthscope Earthscope was an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded earth science program that, from 2003-2018, used geological and geophysical techniques to explore the structure and evolution of the North American continent and to understand the proces ...

, an Earth science program using geological and geophysical techniques to explore the structure of the North American continent and to understand the origin of earthquakes and volcanoes. Earthscope is funded by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

in conjunction with the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

. Data collected at SAFOD are available from The Northern California Earthquake Data Center at

U.C. Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

and at the IRIS DMC.

References

External links

Earthscope

SAFOD
at ICDP-Online.org Deepest boreholes Geology of California Seismological observatories, organisations and projects Structure of the Earth

See also

References

Further reading

External links