San Francisco earthquake
18 Avril 1906 5:12 AM
The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
5:12 AM - April 18, 1906
5:12 AM - April 18, 1906
The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time.
Today, its importance comes more from the wealth of scientific knowledge derived from it than from its
sheer size. Rupturing the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault from northwest
of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino, the earthquake confounded contemporary
geologists with its large, horizontal displacements and great rupture length. Indeed, the significance of
the fault and recognition of its large cumulative offset would not be fully appreciated until the advent of
plate tectonics more than half a century later. Analysis of the 1906 displacements and strain in the
surrounding crust led Reid (1910) to formulate his elastic-rebound theory of the earthquake source, which
remains today the principal model of the earthquake cycle.
Today, its importance comes more from the wealth of scientific knowledge derived from it than from its
sheer size. Rupturing the northernmost 296 miles (477 kilometers) of the San Andreas fault from northwest
of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino, the earthquake confounded contemporary
geologists with its large, horizontal displacements and great rupture length. Indeed, the significance of
the fault and recognition of its large cumulative offset would not be fully appreciated until the advent of
plate tectonics more than half a century later. Analysis of the 1906 displacements and strain in the
surrounding crust led Reid (1910) to formulate his elastic-rebound theory of the earthquake source, which
remains today the principal model of the earthquake cycle.
1903
1906
1906
