SAFOD: Drilling into the San Andreas Fault Open

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What is learned from drilling into the San Andreas Fault?

San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD)  is the deep drilling component of EarthScope to address fundamental questions about processes that control faulting and earthquake generation within a major plate-boundary fault. The 3.2 kilometer [2 mile] drillhole through California's famous San Andreas Fault has resulted in the collection of rock samples that are supporting physical and chemical investigations of the active earthquake zone.

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Keypoints:

SAFOD is

  • An exploratory deep bore hole to gather geologic data about the San Andreas Fault at depth.
  • Part of the EarthScope Project, 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.
  • This data could shed new light on geochemical and mechanical properties around the fault zone and the physical conditions under which plate boundary earthquakes occur

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