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Tin sources and trade in ancient times
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Tin is an essential metal in the creation of tin bronzes, and its acquisition was an important part of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age onward. Its use began in the Middle East and the Balkans around 3000 BC. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with about 2 parts per million (ppm), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm, copper with 70 ppm, lead with 16 ppm, arsenic with 5 ppm, silver with 0.1 ppm, and gold with 0.005 ppm (Valera & Valera 2003, p. 10). Ancient sources of tin were therefore rare, and the metal usually had to be traded over very long distances to meet demand in areas which lacked tin deposits.
Known sources of tin in ancient times include the southeastern tin belt that runs from Yunnan in China to the Malay Peninsula; Devon and Cornwall in England; Brittany in France; the border between Germany and the Czech Republic; Spain; Portugal; Italy; and central and South Africa (Wertime 1979, p. 1; Muhly 1979). Syria and Egypt have been suggested as minor sources of tin, but the archaeological evidence is inconclusive.
Map showing the location of known tin deposits exploited during ancient times
Contents
[hide]
1 Early use
2 Archaeological importance
3 Ancient sources
3.1 Europe
3.2 Asia
3.3 Africa
3.4 Americas
3.5 Australia
4 Ancient trade
4.1 Mediterranean
4.2 Asia
5 See also
6 References
Early use[edit]
Cassiterite and quartz crystals
Tin extraction and use can be dated to the beginning of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, during which copper objects formed from polymetallic ores had different physical properties (Cierny & Weisgerber 2003, p. 23). The earliest bronze objects had tin or arsenic content of less than 2% and are therefore believed to be the result of unintentional alloying due to trace metal content in copper ores such as tennantite, which contains arsenic (Penhallurick 1986, p. 4). The addition of a second metal to copper increases its hardness, lowers the melting temperature, and improves the casting process by producing a more fluid melt that cools to a denser, less spongy metal (Penhallurick 1986, pp. 4–5). This was an important innovation that allowed for the much more complex shapes cast in closed molds of the Bronze Age. Arsenical bronze objects appear first in the Middle East where arsenic is commonly found in association with copper ore, but the health risks were quickly realized and the quest for sources of the much less hazardous tin ores began early in the Bronze Age (Charles 1979, p. 30). This created the demand for rare tin metal and formed a trade network that linked the distant sources of tin to the markets of Bronze Age cultures.
Cassiterite (SnO2), oxidized tin, most likely was the original source of tin in ancient times. Other forms of tin ores are less abundant sulfides such as stannite that require a more involved smelting process. Cassiterite often accumulates in alluvial channels as placer deposits due to the fact that it is harder, heavier, and more chemically resistant than the granite in which it typically forms (Penhallurick 1986). These deposits can be easily seen in river banks, because cassiterite is usually black or purple or otherwise dark, a feature exploited by early Bronze Age prospectors. It is likely that the earliest deposits were alluvial and perhaps exploited by the same methods used for panning gold in placer deposits.
Archaeological importance[edit]
The importance of tin to the success of Bronze Age cultures and the scarcity of the resource offers a glimpse into that time period's trade and cultural interactions, and has therefore been the focus of intense archaeological studies. However, a number of problems have plagued the study of ancient tin such as the limited archaeological remains of placer mining, the destruction of ancient mines by modern mining operations, and the poor preservation of pure tin objects due to tin disease or tin pest. These problems are compounded by the difficulty in provenancing tin objects and ores to their geological deposits using isotopic or trace element analyses. Current archaeological debate is concerned with the origins of tin in the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Near East (Penhallurick 1986; Cierny & Weisgerber 2003; Dayton 1971; Giumlia-Mair 2003; Muhly 1979; Muhly 1985).
Ancient sources[edit]
Europe[edit]
Giant, ceremonial dirk of the Plougrescant-Ommerschans type, Plougrescant, France, 1500–1300 BC.
Wheelpit at a medieval tin mine in Dartmoor, United Kingdom
Europe has very few sources of tin. Therefore, throughout ancient times it was imported long distances from the known tin mining districts of antiquity. These were Erzgebirge along the modern border between Germany and Czech Republic, the Iberian Peninsula, Brittany in modern France, and Devon and Cornwall in southwestern Britain (Benvenuti et al. 2003, p. 56; Valera & Valera 2003, p. 11). There are several smaller sources of tin in the Balkans (Mason et al. 2016, p. 110) and another minor source of tin is known to exist at Monte Valerio in Tuscany, Italy. The Tuscan source was exploited by Etruscan miners around 800 BC, but it was not a significant source of tin for the rest of the Mediterranean (Benvenuti et al. 2003). The Etruscans themselves found the need to import tin from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula at that time and later from Cornwall (Penhallurick 1986, p. 80).
It has been claimed that tin was first mined in Europe around 2500 BC in Erzgebirge, and knowledge of tin bronze and tin extraction techniques spread from there to Brittany and Cornwall around 2000 BC and from northwestern Europe to northwestern Spain and Portugal around the same time (Penhallurick 1986, p. 93). However, the only Bronze Age object from Central Europe whose tin has been scientifically provenanced is the Nebra sky disk, and its tin (and gold, though not its copper), is shown by tin isotopes to have come from Cornwall (Haustein, Gillis & Pernicka 2010). In addition, a rare find of a pure tin ingot in Scandinavia was provenanced to Cornwall (Ling et al. 2014). Available evidence, though very limited, thus points to Cornwall as the sole early source of tin in Central and Northern Europe.
Brittany – adjacent to Cornwall on the Celtic Sea – has significant sources of tin which show evidence of being extensively exploited after the Roman conquest of Gaul during the first century BC and onwards (Penhallurick 1986, pp. 86–91). Brittany remained a significant source of tin throughout the medieval period.
A group of 52 bronze artifacts from the late Bronze Age Balkans has been shown to have tin of multiple origins, based on the correlation of tin isotope differences with the different find locations of the artifacts. While the locations of these separate tin sources are uncertain, the larger Serbian group of artifacts is inferred to be derived from tin sources in western Serbia (e.g. Mount Cer), while the smaller group, largely from western Romania, is inferred to have western Romanian origins (Mason et al. 2016, p. 116).
Iberian tin was widely traded across the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age, and extensively exploited during Roman times. But Iberian tin deposits were largely forgotten throughout the medieval period, were not rediscovered till the 18th century, and only re-gained importance during the mid-19th century (Penhallurick 1986, pp. 100–101).
Cornwall and Devon were important sources of tin for Europe and the Mediterranean throughout ancient times and may have been the earliest sources of tin in Western Europe. But within the historical period, they only dominated the European market from late Roman times in the 3rd century AD, with the exhaustion of many Spanish tin mines (Gerrard 2000, p. 21). Cornwall maintained its importance as a source of tin throughout medieval times and into the modern period (Gerrard 2000).
See also: Mining archaeology in the British Isles
Asia[edit]
Western Asia has very little tin ore; the few sources that have recently been found are too insignificant to have played a major role during most of ancient history (Cierny & Weisgerber 2003, p. 23). However, it is possible that they were exploited at the onset of the Bronze Age and are responsible for the development of early bronze manufacturing technology (Muhly 1973; Muhly 1979). Kestel, in Southern Turkey, is the site of an ancient Casserite mine that was used from 3250 to 1800 BC. It contains miles of tunnels, some only large enough for a child. A grave with children which were probably workers has been found. It was abandoned, with crucibiles and other tools left at the site. The next evidence of the production of pure tin in the Middle East is an ingot from the 1300 BC Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey (Hauptmann, Maddin & Prange 2002).
While there are a few sources of cassiterite in Central Asia, namely in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan that show signs of having been exploited starting around 2000 BC (Cierny & Weisgerber 2003, p. 28), archaeologists disagree about whether they were significant sources of tin for the earliest Bronze Age cultures of the Middle East (Dayton 2003; Muhly 1973; Maddin 1998; Stech & Pigott 1986).
In Northern Asia the only tin deposits considered exploitable by ancient peoples occur in the far eastern region of Siberia (Dayton 2003, p. 165). This source of tin appears to have been exploited by the Eurasian Steppe people known as the Turbino culture of the Middle Bronze Age (1000 BC) as well as northern Chinese cultures around the same time (Penhallurick 1986, p. 35).
Eastern Asia has a number of small cassiterite deposits along the Yellow River which were exploited by the earliest Chinese Bronze Age culture of Erlitou and the Shang Dynasty (2500 to 1800 BC). However, the richest deposits for the region, and indeed the world, lie in Southeastern Asia, stretching from Yunnan in China to the Malay Peninsula. The deposits in Yunnan were not mined until around 700 BC, but by the Han Dynasty had become the main source of tin in China according to historical texts of the Han, Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties (Murowchick 1991, pp. 76–77). Other cultures of Southeast Asia exploited the abundant cassiterite resources sometime between second and third millennia BC, but due to the lack of archaeological work in the region little else is known about tin exploitation during ancient times in that part of the world.
Tin was used in the Indian subcontinent starting between 1500 and 1000 BC (Hedge 1979, p. 39; Chakrabarti & Lahiri 1996). While India does have some small scattered deposits of tin, they were not a major source of tin for Indian Bronze Age cultures as shown by their dependence on imported tin.
Africa[edit]
While rich veins of tin are known to exist in Central and South Africa, whether these were exploited during ancient times is still debated (Dayton 2003, p. 165). However, the Bantu culture of Zimbabwe are known to have actively mined, smelted and traded tin between the 11th and 15th centuries AD (Penhallurick 1986, p. 11).
Americas[edit]
Tin deposits exist in many parts of South America, with minor deposits in southern Peru, Colombia, Brazil, and northwestern Argentina, and major deposits of exploitable cassiterite in northern Bolivia. These deposits were exploited as early as 1000 AD in the manufacture of tin bronze by Andean cultures, including the later Inca Empire, which considered tin bronze the "imperial alloy". In North America, the only known exploitable source of tin during ancient times is located in the Zacatecas tin province of north central Mexico which supplied west Mexican cultures with enough tin for bronze production (Lechtman 1996, p. 478).
Australia[edit]
The tin belt of Southeast Asia extends all the way down to Tasmania, but metals were not exploited in Australia until the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century.
Ancient trade[edit]
Due to the scattered nature of tin deposits around the world and its essential nature for the creation of tin bronze, tin trade played an important role in the development of cultures throughout ancient times. Archaeologists have reconstructed parts of the extensive trade networks of ancient cultures from the Bronze Age to modern times using historical texts, archaeological excavations, and trace element and lead isotope analysis to determine the origins of tin objects around the world (Valera & Valera 2003; Rovia & Montero 2003; Maddin 1998).
Mediterranean[edit]
The earliest sources of tin in the Early Bronze Age in the Near East are still unknown and the subject of much debate in archaeology (Dayton 1971; Dayton 2003; Maddin 1998; Muhly 1973; Penhallurick 1986; Stech & Pigott 1986; Kalyanaraman 2010). Possibilities include minor now-depleted sources in the Near East, trade from Central Asia (Muhly 1979), Sub-Saharan Africa (Dayton 2003), Europe, or elsewhere.
It is possible that as early as 2500 BC, Erzgebirge had begun exporting tin, using the well established Baltic amber trade route to supply Scandinavia as well as the Mediterranean with tin (Penhallurick 1986, pp. 75–77). By 2000 BC, the extraction of tin in Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal had begun and tin was traded to the Mediterranean sporadically from all these sources. Evidence of tin trade in the Mediterranean can be seen in a number of Bronze Age shipwrecks containing tin ingots such as the Uluburun off the coast of Turkey dated 1300 BC which carried over 300 copper bars weighing 10 tons, and approximately 40 tin bars weighing 1 ton (Pulak 2001). While Sardinia does not appear to have much in terms of significant sources of tin, it does have rich copper and other mineral wealth and served as a centre for metals trade during the Bronze Age and likely actively imported tin from the Iberian Peninsula for export to the rest of the Mediterranean (Lo Schiavo 2003).
Map of Europe based on Strabo's geography, showing the Cassiterides just off the northwest tip of Iberia
By classical Greek times, the tin sources were well established. Greece and the Western Mediterranean appear to have traded their tin from European sources, while the Middle East acquired their tin from Central Asian sources through the Silk Road (Muhly 1979, p. 45). For example, Iron Age Greece had access to tin from Iberia by way of the Phoenicians who traded extensively there, from Erzgebirge by way of the Baltic Amber Road overland route, or from Brittany and Cornwall through overland routes from their colony at Massalia (modern day Marseilles) established in the 6th century BC (Penhallurick 1986). In 450 BC, Herodotus described tin as coming from Northern European islands named the Cassiterides along the extreme borders of the world, suggesting very long distance trade, likely from Britain, northwestern Iberia, or Brittany, supplying tin to Greece and other Mediterranean cultures (Valera & Valera 2003, p. 11). It should be noted that the idea that the Phoenicians went to Cornwall for its tin and supplied it to the whole of the Mediterranean has no archaeological basis and is largely considered a myth (Penhallurick 1986, p. 123).
The early Roman world was mainly supplied with tin from its Iberian provinces of Gallaecia and Lusitania and to a lesser extent Tuscany. Pliny mentions that in 80 BC, a senatorial decree halted all mining on the Italian Peninsula, stopping any tin mining activity in Tuscany and increasing Roman dependence on tin from Brittany, Iberia, and Cornwall. After the Roman conquest of Gaul, Brittany’s tin deposits saw intensified exploitation after the first century BC (Penhallurick 1986, pp. 86–91). With the exhaustion of the Iberian tin mines, Cornwall became a major supplier of tin for the Romans after the 3rd century AD (Gerrard 2000).
Throughout the medieval period, demand for tin increased as pewter gained popularity. Brittany and Cornwall remained the major producers and exporters of tin throughout the Mediterranean through to modern times (Gerrard 2000).
Asia[edit]
A Shang Dynasty bronze gefuding gui vessel
Near Eastern development of bronze technology spread across Central Asia by way of the Eurasian Steppes, and with it came the knowledge and technology for tin prospection and extraction. By 2000 to 1500 BC Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan appear to have exploited their sources of tin, carrying the resources east and west along the Silk Road crossing Central Asia (Cierny & Weisgerber 2003, p. 28). This trade link likely followed an existing trade route of lapis lazuli, a highly prized semi-precious blue gemstone, and chlorite vessels decorated with turquoise from Central Asia that have been found as far west as Egypt and that date to the same period (Giumlia-Mair 2003, p. 93).
In China, early tin was extracted along the Yellow River in Erlitou and Shang times between 2500 and 1800 BC. By Han and later times, China imported its tin from what is today Yunnan province. This has remained China’s main source of tin throughout history and into modern times (Murowchick 1991).
It is unlikely that Southeast Asian tin from Indochina was widely traded around the world in ancient times as the area was only opened up to Indian, Muslim, and European traders around 800 AD (Penhallurick 1986, p. 51).
Indo–Roman trade relations are well known from historical texts such as Pliny’s Natural History (book VI, 26), and tin is mentioned as one of the resources being exported from Rome to South Arabia, Somaliland, and India (Penhallurick 1986, p. 53; Dayton 2003, p. 165).
See also[edit]
Mining portal
Cassiterides
Stannary
Tin pest
Tin mining in Britain
Mining in Cornwall and Devon
Dartmoor tin mining
References[edit]
Benvenuti, M.; Chiarantini, L.; Norfini, A.; Casini, A.; Guideri, S.; Tanelli, G. (2003), "The "Etruscan tin": a preliminary contribution from researches at Monte Valerio and Baratti-Populonia (Southern Tuscany, Italy)", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 55–66, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Chakrabarti, D.K.; Lahiri, N. (1996), Copper and its alloys in ancient India, New Dehli: Munshiram Manoharlal, ISBN 81-215-0707-3
Charles, J.A. (1979), "The development of the usage of tin and tin-bronze: some problems", in Franklin, A.D.; Olin, J.S.; Wertime, T.A., The Search for Ancient Tin, Washington, D.C.: A seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. March 14–15, 1977, pp. 25–32
Cierny, J.; Weisgerber, G. (2003), "The "Bronze Age tin mines in Central Asia", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 23–31, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Dayton, J.E. (1971), "The problem of tin in the ancient world", World Archaeology, 3 (1), pp. 49–70, doi:10.1080/00438243.1971.9979491
Dayton, J.E. (2003), "The problem of tin in the ancient world (part 2)", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 165–170, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Gerrard, S. (2000), The Early British Tin Industry, Stroud: Tempus Publishing, ISBN 0-7524-1452-6
Giumlia-Mair, A. (2003), "Iron Age tin in the Oriental Alps", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 93–108, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Hauptmann, A.; Maddin, R.; Prange, M. (2002), "On the structure and composition of copper and tin ingots excavated from the shipwreck of Uluburun", Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, 328, pp. 1-30, JSTOR 1357777
Haustein, M.; Gillis, C.; Pernicka, E. (2010), "Tin isotopy: a new method for solving old questions", Archeometry, 52 (5), pp. 816-832, doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00515.x
Hedge, K.T.M. (1979), "Sources of ancient tin in India", in Franklin, A.D.; Olin, J.S.; Wertime, T.A., The Search for Ancient Tin, Washington, D.C.: A seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. March 14–15, 1977, pp. 14–15
Kalyanaraman, S. (2010), "The Bronze Age Writing System of Sarasvati Hieroglyphics as Evidenced by Two "Rosetta Stones" - Decoding Indus script as repertoire of the mints/smithy/mine-workers of Meluhha", Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies, 11, pp. 47–74
Lechtman, H. (1996), "Arsenic bronze: dirty copper or chosen alloy? A view from the Americas", Journal of Field Archaeology, 23 (3), pp. 477–514
Ling, Johan; Stos-Gale, Zofia; Grandin, Lena; Hjärthner-Holdar, Eva; Persson, Per-Olof (2014), "Moving metals II provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts", Journal of Archeological Science, 41: 106–132, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.07.018
Lo Schiavo, F. (2003), "The problem of early tin from the point of view of Nuragic Sardinia", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 121–132, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Maddin, R. (1998), Early Metallurgy: The Tin Mystery, Matsue: Proceedings of BUMA IV, pp. 1–4
Mason, A.H; Powell, W.G.; Bankoff, H.A.; Mathur, R; Bulatović, A.; Filipović, V.; Ruiz, J., "Tin isotope characterization of bronze artifacts of the central Balkans", Journal of Archaeological Science, 69, pp. 110-117, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.04.012
Muhly, J.D. (1973), Copper and Tin: the Distribution of Mineral Resources and the Nature of the Metals Trade in the Bronze Age, Hamden: Archon Books, ISBN 0-208-01217-6
Muhly, J.D. (1979), "The evidence for sources of and trade in Bronze Age tin", in Franklin, A.D.; Olin, J.S.; Wertime, T.A., The Search for Ancient Tin, Washington, D.C.: A seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. March 14–15, 1977, pp. 43–48
Muhly, J.D. (1985), "Sources of tin and the beginnings of bronze metallurgy", Journal of American Archaeology, 89 (2), pp. 275–291
Murowchick, R.E. (1991), The Ancient Bronze Metallurgy of Yunnan and its Environs: Development and Implications, Michigan: Ann Arbour
Penhallurick, R.D. (1986), Tin in Antiquity: its Mining and Trade Throughout the Ancient World with Particular Reference to Cornwall, London: The Institute of Metals, ISBN 0-904357-81-3
Primas, M. (2003), "The use of tin and lead in Bronze Age metallurgy", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 87–92, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Pulak, C. (2001), "The cargo of the Uluburun ship and evidence for trade with the Aegean and beyond", in Bonfante, L.; Karageogrhis, V., Italy and Cyprus in Antiquity: 1500–450 BC, Nicosia: The Costakis and Leto Severis Foundation, pp. 12–61, ISBN 9963-8102-3-3
Roden, Christoph (1985). "Die montanarchäologischen Quellen des ur- und frühgeschichtlichen Zinnbergbaus in Europa - Ein Überblick". Der Anschnitt. 37 (2/3): 50–80.
Rovia, S.; Montero, I. (2003), "Natural tin-bronze alloy in Iberian Peninsula metallurgy: potentiality and reality", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 15–22, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Stech, T.; Pigott, V.C. (1986), "Metals trade in Southwest Asia in the third millennium BC", Iraq, 48, pp. 39–64
Valera, R.G.; Valera, P.G. (2003), "Tin in the Mediterranean area: history and geology", in Giumlia-Mair, A.; Lo Schiavo, F., The Problem of Early Tin, Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 3–14, ISBN 1-84171-564-6
Weeks, L.R. (2004), Early Metallurgy of the Persian Gulf: Technology, Trade, and the Bronze Age World, Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, ISBN 0-391-04213-0
Wertime, T.A. (1979), "The search for ancient tin: the geographic and historic boundaries", in Franklin, A.D.; Olin, J.S.; Wertime, T.A., The Search for Ancient Tin, Washington, D.C.: A seminar organized by Theodore A. Wertime and held at the Smithsonian Institution and the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C. March 14–15, 1977, pp. 14–15
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Orogeny
Gorda-California-Nevada
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1,200 kilometers (750 mi) through California.[1] It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal). The fault divides into three segments, each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk. The slip rate along the fault ranges from 20 to 35 mm (0.79 to 1.38 in)/yr.[1]
The fault was identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley, who discovered the northern zone. It is often described as having been named after San Andreas Lake, a small body of water that was formed in a valley between the two plates. However, according to some of his reports from 1895 and 1908, Lawson actually named it after the surrounding San Andreas Valley.[2] Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extended all the way into southern California.
In 1953, geologist Thomas Dibblee concluded that hundreds of miles of lateral movement could occur along the fault. A project called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) near Parkfield, Monterey County, was drilled through the fault during 2004 - 2007 to collect material and make physical and chemical observations to better understand fault behavior [3].
Contents
[hide]
1 Fault zones
1.1 Northern
1.2 Central
1.3 Southern
2 Plate boundaries
3 Formation
4 Study
4.1 Early years
4.2 Current research
4.3 The next "Big One"
4.4 Cascadia connection
5 Earthquakes
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Fault zones[edit]
Northern[edit]
See also: Calaveras Fault and Hayward Fault Zone
A map displaying each of the seven major fault lines in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the probability of an M6.7 earthquake or higher occurring on each fault line between 2003 and 2032.
The northern segment of the fault runs from Hollister, through the Santa Cruz Mountains, epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, then up the San Francisco Peninsula, where it was first identified by Professor Lawson in 1895, then offshore at Daly City near Mussel Rock. This is the approximate location of the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The fault returns onshore at Bolinas Lagoon just north of Stinson Beach in Marin County. It returns underwater through the linear trough of Tomales Bay which separates the Point Reyes Peninsula from the mainland, runs just east of Bodega Head through Bodega Bay and back underwater, returning onshore at Fort Ross. (In this region around the San Francisco Bay Area several significant "sister faults" run more-or-less parallel, and each of these can create significantly destructive earthquakes.) From Fort Ross, the northern segment continues overland, forming in part a linear valley through which the Gualala River flows. It goes back offshore at Point Arena. After that, it runs underwater along the coast until it nears Cape Mendocino, where it begins to bend to the west, terminating at the Mendocino Triple Junction.
Central[edit]
The central segment of the San Andreas Fault runs in a northwestern direction from Parkfield to Hollister. While the southern section of the fault and the parts through Parkfield experience earthquakes, the rest of the central section of the fault exhibits a phenomenon called aseismic creep, where the fault slips continuously without causing earthquakes.
Southern[edit]
See also: Elsinore Fault Zone, Imperial Fault, Laguna Salada Fault, and San Jacinto Fault Zone
Aerial photo of the San Andreas Fault in the Carrizo Plain
The Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, California are evidence of the San Andreas Fault line and part of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail.
The Mormon Rocks within Cajon Pass show the physical movement of the San Andreas fault in southern California.
3-D perspective view of Earth's San Andreas Fault in the Temblor Range
The southern segment (also known as the Mojave segment) begins near Bombay Beach, California. Box Canyon, near the Salton Sea, contains upturned strata associated with that section of the fault.[4] The fault then runs along the southern base of the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses through the Cajon Pass and continues northwest along the northern base of the San Gabriel Mountains. These mountains are a result of movement along the San Andreas Fault and are commonly called the Transverse Range. In Palmdale, a portion of the fault is easily examined at a roadcut for the Antelope Valley Freeway. The fault continues northwest alongside the Elizabeth Lake Road to the town of Elizabeth Lake. As it passes the towns of Gorman, Tejon Pass and Frazier Park, the fault begins to bend northward, forming the "Big Bend". This restraining bend is thought to be where the fault locks up in Southern California, with an earthquake-recurrence interval of roughly 140–160 years. Northwest of Frazier Park, the fault runs through the Carrizo Plain, a long, treeless plain where much of the fault is plainly visible. The Elkhorn Scarp defines the fault trace along much of its length within the plain.
The southern segment, which stretches from Parkfield in Monterey County all the way to the Salton Sea, is capable of an 8.1-magnitude earthquake. At its closest, this fault passes about 35 miles (56 km) to the northeast of Los Angeles. Such a large earthquake on this southern segment would kill thousands of people in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and surrounding areas, and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.[5]
Plate boundaries[edit]
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The Pacific Plate, to the west of the fault, is moving in a northwest direction while the North American Plate to the east is moving toward the southwest, but relatively southeast under the influence of plate tectonics. The rate of slippage averages about 33 to 37 millimeters (1.3 to 1.5 in) a year across California.[6]
The southwestward motion of the North American Plate towards the Pacific is creating compressional forces along the eastern side of the fault. The effect is expressed as the Coast Ranges. The northwest movement of the Pacific Plate is also creating significant compressional forces which are especially pronounced where the North American Plate has forced the San Andreas to jog westward. This has led to the formation of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, and to a lesser but still significant extent, the Santa Cruz Mountains (the location of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989).
Studies of the relative motions of the Pacific and North American plates have shown that only about 75 percent of the motion can be accounted for in the movements of the San Andreas and its various branch faults. The rest of the motion has been found in an area east of the Sierra Nevada mountains called the Walker Lane or Eastern California Shear Zone. The reason for this is not clear. Several hypotheses have been offered and research is ongoing. One hypothesis – which gained interest following the Landers earthquake in 1992 – suggests the plate boundary may be shifting eastward away from the San Andreas towards Walker Lane.
Assuming the plate boundary does not change as hypothesized, projected motion indicates that the landmass west of the San Andreas Fault, including Los Angeles, will eventually slide past San Francisco, then continue northwestward toward the Aleutian Trench, over a period of perhaps twenty million years.
Formation[edit]
Tectonic evolution of the San Andreas Fault.
The San Andreas began to form in the mid Cenozoic about 30 Mya (million years ago).[7] At this time, a spreading center between the Pacific Plate and the Farallon Plate (which is now mostly subducted, with remnants including the Juan de Fuca Plate, Rivera Plate, Cocos Plate, and the Nazca Plate) was beginning to reach the subduction zone off the western coast of North America. As the relative motion between the Pacific and North American Plates was different from the relative motion between the Farallon and North American Plates, the spreading ridge began to be "subducted", creating a new relative motion and a new style of deformation along the plate boundaries. These geological features are what are chiefly seen along San Andreas Fault. It also includes a possible driver for the deformation of the Basin and Range, separation of the Baja California Peninsula, and rotation of the Transverse Range.
The main southern section of the San Andreas Fault proper has only existed for about 5 million years.[8] The first known incarnation of the southern part of the fault was Clemens Well-Fenner-San Francisquito fault zone around 22–13 Ma. This system added the San Gabriel Fault as a primary focus of movement between 10–5 Ma. Currently, it is believed that the modern San Andreas will eventually transfer its motion toward a fault within the Eastern California Shear Zone. This complicated evolution, especially along the southern segment, is mostly caused by either the "Big Bend" and/or a difference in the motion vector between the plates and the trend of the fault and it surrounding branches.
Study[edit]
Early years[edit]
The fault was first identified in Northern California by UC Berkeley geology professor Andrew Lawson in 1895 and named by him after the Laguna de San Andreas, a small lake which lies in a linear valley formed by the fault just south of San Francisco. Eleven years later, Lawson discovered that the San Andreas Fault stretched southward into southern California after reviewing the effects of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Large-scale (hundreds of miles) lateral movement along the fault was first proposed in a 1953 paper by geologists Mason Hill and Thomas Dibblee. This idea, which was considered radical at the time, has since been vindicated by modern plate tectonics.[9]
Current research[edit]
Seismologists discovered that the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield in central California consistently produces a magnitude 6.0 earthquake approximately once every 22 years. Following recorded seismic events in 1857, 1881, 1901, 1922, 1934, and 1966, scientists predicted that another earthquake should occur in Parkfield in 1993. It eventually occurred in 2004. Due to the frequency of predictable activity, Parkfield has become one of the most important areas in the world for large earthquake research.
In 2004, work began just north of Parkfield on the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). The goal of SAFOD is to drill a hole nearly 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) into the Earth's crust and into the San Andreas Fault. An array of sensors will be installed to record earthquakes that happen near this area.[10]
The San Andreas Fault System has been the subject of a flood of studies. In particular, scientific research performed during the last 23 years has given rise to about 3,400 publications.[11]
The next "Big One"[edit]
Radar generated 3-D view of the San Andreas Fault, at Crystal Springs Reservoir near San Mateo, California.[12]
A study published in 2006 in the journal Nature found that the San Andreas fault has reached a sufficient stress level for an earthquake of magnitude greater than 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale to occur.[13] This study also found that the risk of a large earthquake may be increasing more rapidly than scientists had previously believed. Moreover, the risk is currently concentrated on the southern section of the fault, i.e. the region around Los Angeles, because massive earthquakes have occurred relatively recently on the central (1857) and northern (1906) segments of the fault, while the southern section has not seen any similar rupture for at least 300 years. According to this study, a massive earthquake on that southern section of the San Andreas fault would result in major damage to the Palm Springs-Indio metropolitan area and other cities in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties in California, and Mexicali Municipality in Baja California. It would be strongly felt (and potentially cause significant damage) throughout much of Southern California, including densely populated areas of Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, San Diego County, Ensenada Municipality and Tijuana Municipality, Baja California, San Luis Rio Colorado in Sonora and Yuma, Arizona. Older buildings would be especially prone to damage or collapse, as would buildings built on unconsolidated gravel or in coastal areas where water tables are high (and thus subject to soil liquefaction). The paper concluded:
The information available suggests that the fault is ready for the next big earthquake but exactly when the triggering will happen and when the earthquake will occur we cannot tell [...] It could be tomorrow or it could be 10 years or more from now.[13]
Nevertheless, in the 11 years since that publication there has not been a substantial quake in the Los Angeles area, and two major reports issued by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have made variable predictions as to the risk of future seismic events. The ability to predict major earthquakes with sufficient precision to warrant increased precautions has remained elusive.[14]
The U.S. Geological Survey most recent forecast, known as UCERF3 (Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast 3), released in November 2013, estimated that an earthquake of magnitude 6.7 M or greater (i.e. equal to or greater than the 1994 Northridge earthquake) occurs about once every 6.7 years statewide. The same report also estimated there is a 7% probability that an earthquake of magnitude 8.0 or greater will occur in the next 30 years somewhere along the San Andreas Fault.[15] A different USGS study in 2008 tried to assess the physical, social and economic consequences of a major earthquake in southern California. That study predicted that a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the southern San Andreas Fault could cause about 1,800 deaths and $213 billion in damage.[16]
Cascadia connection[edit]
A 2008 paper, studying past earthquakes along the Pacific coastal zone, found a correlation in time between seismic events on the northern San Andreas Fault and the southern part of the Cascadia subduction zone (which stretches from Vancouver Island to northern California). Scientists believe quakes on the Cascadia subduction zone may have triggered most of the major quakes on the northern San Andreas within the past 3,000 years. The evidence also shows the rupture direction going from north to south in each of these time-correlated events. However the 1906 San Francisco earthquake seems to have been the exception to this correlation because the plate movement was moved mostly from south to north and it was not preceded by a major quake in the Cascadia zone.[17]
Earthquakes[edit]
See also: List of earthquakes in California
The San Andreas Fault has had some notable earthquakes in historic times:
1857 Fort Tejon earthquake: About 350 kilometers (220 mi) were ruptured in central and southern California. Though it is known as the Fort Tejon earthquake, the epicenter is thought to have been located far to the north, just south of Parkfield. Two deaths were reported. The magnitude was about 7.9.
1906 San Francisco earthquake: About 430 kilometers (270 mi) were ruptured in Northern California. The epicenter was near San Francisco. At least 3,000 people died in the earthquake and subsequent fires. The magnitude was estimated to be 7.8.
1957 San Francisco earthquake: A magnitude 5.7 quake with an epicenter on the San Andreas fault in the ocean west of San Francisco and Daly City.
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake: About 40 kilometers (25 mi) were ruptured (although the rupture did not reach the surface) near Santa Cruz, California, causing 63 deaths and moderate damage in certain vulnerable locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Moment magnitude was about 6.9. This quake occurred on October 17, 1989, at approximately 5:04 PM PDT.
2004 Parkfield earthquake: On September 28, 2004 at 10:15 a.m. PDT, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the Parkfield area. It was felt across the state, including the San Francisco Bay Area.
See also[edit]
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Earthquakes portal
California earthquake forecast
Central Valley (California)
Coast Range Geomorphic Province
Garlock Fault
Geologic timeline of Western North America
North Anatolian Fault
Ramapo Fault
San Andreas (film)
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b "San Andreas Fault Zone". CalTech. Retrieved 2017-06-20.
Jump up ^ "Earthquake Facts". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2016-05-28.
Jump up ^ "San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth". Retrieved 15 May 2018.
Jump up ^ Americansouthwest.net "Box Canyon"
Jump up ^ Rong-Gong Lin II (October 8, 2010). "San Andreas fault capable of magnitude 8.1 earthquake over 340-mile swath of California, researchers say". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
Jump up ^ Wallace, Robert E. "Present-Day Crustal Movements and the Mechanics of Cyclic Deformation". The San Andreas Fault System, California. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
Jump up ^ Atwater, T., 1970, Implications of Plate Tectonics for the Cenozoic Tectonic Evolution of Western North America
Jump up ^ Powell, R.E.; Weldon, R.J. (1992). "Evolution of the San Andreas fault". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 20: 431–468.
Jump up ^ Mason L. Hill; Thomas Dibblee (April 1953). "San Andreas, Garlock, and Big faults, California". Geological Society of America Bulletin: 443–458. ISBN 978-0-8137-2338-9.
Jump up ^ "San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth". USGS Earthquake Hazards Program. USGS. Archived from the original on 2005-10-01.
Jump up ^ Gizzi F.T. (2015). "Worldwide trends in research on the San Andreas Fault System" (PDF). Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 8 (12): 10893–10909. doi:10.1007/s12517-015-1878-4.
Jump up ^ NASA (June 23, 2009). "NASA Radar Provides 3-D View of San Andreas Fault". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
^ Jump up to: a b Fialko, Yuri (2006). "Interseismic strain accumulation and the earthquake potential on the southern San Andreas fault System" (PDF). Nature. 441 (7096): 968–971. Bibcode:2006Natur.441..968F. doi:10.1038/nature04797. PMID 16791192.
Jump up ^ Geller, Robert J. (Dec 1997). "Earthquake prediction: a critical review". Geophysical Journal International. 131 (3): 425–450. Bibcode:1997GeoJI.131..425G. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1997.tb06588.x.
Jump up ^ "New Long-Term Earthquake Forecast for California". USGS.
Jump up ^ "The ShakeOut Scenario". USGS.
Jump up ^ BSSA (April 3, 2008). "Earthquakes Along The Cascadia And San Andreas Faults May Be Linked, Affecting Risk To San Francisco Bay Region". Seismological Society of America. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
Further reading[edit]
Collier, Michael (December 1, 1999). A Land in Motion. UC Press. ISBN 0-520-21897-3.
Stoffer, Philip W. (2006). Where's the San Andreas fault? A guidebook to tracing the fault on public lands in the San Francisco Bay region. USGS. General Interest Publication 16.
The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, Andrew C. Lawson, chairman, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 87, 2 vols. (1908). Available online at this USGS webpage.
Lynch, David K. (2006). Field Guide to the San Andreas Fault: See and Touch the World's Most Famous Fault on any one of Twelve Easy Day Trips. Thule Scientific. ISBN 0-9779935-0-7. Full color, GPS coordinates,.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to San Andreas Fault.
The Parkfield, California, Earthquake Experiment at the USGS
San Andreas Fault Zone Observatory at Depth at the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
The San Andreas Fault by Sandra S. Schulz and Robert E. Wallace
Complete Report for San Andreas fault zone, Peninsula section (Class A) No. 1c from the USGS
New Scripps Study Reveals San Andreas Fault Set for the 'Big One' at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
San Andreas Fault at Wallace Creek – Kite Aerial Photography from the USGS
"Scientists Search for a Pulse in Skies Above Earthquake Country" at JPL
The Day California Cracks at Bloomberg Businessweek
Google Maps Satellite View on Geology.com
San Andreas Fault in Southern California
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Après nous le déluge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Après nous, le déluge" ("After us, the flood") is a French expression, attributed to Madame de Pompadour, the lover of King Louis XV of France.[1] An alternative form, attributed to Louis himself, is "Après moi, le déluge" ("After me, the flood"). The saying came after the Battle of Rossbach in 1757, which was disastrous for the French.[2]
The expression has two possible meanings: "After me, the deluge will come", asserting that if the revolution ended his reign, the nation would be plunged into chaos; or "After me, let the deluge come", implying that he does not care what happens after his disappearance.[3][1]
Karl Marx wrote in Das Kapital (Vol. 1, Part III, Chapter Ten, Section 5) "Après moi, le déluge! is the watchword of every capitalist and of every capitalist nation. Hence Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the labourer, unless under compulsion from society."
During the trial of Dimitri Fyodorovich Karamazov in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, the prosecution uses the phrase to describe the defendant’s reprobate father and to lament the deterioration of Russian values more generally.
The phrase "Après moi le déluge" was adopted as the motto of the Royal Air Force 617 Squadron, which carried out the "Dambuster" raids on German dams in the Ruhr region on the night of 16–17 May 1943.
The expression was also used by infamous serial killer Andrew Cunanan, murderer of Gianni Versace, in his school yearbook.
See also[edit]
Après le Déluge
Let them eat cake
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Entsiklopedicheskii slovar [Encyclopedic Dictionary] (in Russian). 1890. p. 930.
Jump up ^ "The Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French". p. 43.
Jump up ^ Laguna, Gabriel (13 January 2006). "The Expression 'Après moi le déluge', and Its Classical Antecedents". Tradición Clásica. [self-published source]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Après_nous_le_déluge&oldid=856899847"
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