San Andreas Fault, Part 7: Desert
Hot Springs & Coachella Valley
By Dan Robinson of
stormhighway.com
After
arriving in San Gorgonio Pass, we've made it to the last segment of our San
Andreas Fault tour. In this area, the San Andreas branches from east to west
into a complex network of multiple faults (or strands), all of which
accommodate the plate movement to varying degrees. On this tour, we will be
following the conventionally-mapped main strand (sometimes referred to as the
Mission Creek fault) through Desert Hot Springs. The other recognized major
strand of the San Andreas, known as the Banning fault, runs several miles to
the south closer to I-10.
Final Part 7 of Dan
Robinson’s San Andreas Fault ‘trip’
Recent
study has shown that the Mission Creek strand has the greatest slip rate in the
Coachella Valley. It has accumulated between 6 to 9 meters of elastic strain
with the potential to snap and release that tension in a large earthquake. This
strand runs from Bombay Beach, Indio to the San Bernardino Mountains.
Ctrl + Click to enlarge the left photo
above Little San Bernardino
Mountains behind the creek
Found
this great website for hiking or learning to hike… by Cris Hazzard (Hiking Guy)
Especially
if you can get there in person, take his virtual hike of…
Desert Hot Springs
This
‘strand’ of the SAF runs right thru town, mostly invisible until…
Continue
south following the Mission Creek Fault thru the Coachella Valley Preserve.
Fault scarps also
trap water and the palm tree oases show you the water!
Notice the green at
the base of the hills along Thousand Palms Canyon Road.
Thousand
Palms Oasis with a shaded boardwalk??? That’s my kind of desert hike!
Mecca? To me that spells “Bautista Family Date Farm” Ono!
Finally Dan Virtual
Tour ends along the eastern side of the Salton Sea.
Sadly Bombay Beach is
returning to the desert as is the once vast Salton Sea…L
I did like the
rooftop deck idea... J
Thanks
to Dan Robinson’s San Andreas Fault Trip!
Revisit
earlier parts of the SAF system?
Try
clicking on: Part
1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6