Disasters in the Movies

Matthew Nielson
Geog - 1000

For this research project I have decided to base it off of the movie “San Andreas; 2015; Directed
by Brad Peyton”. The main plot of this movie comes from the concept of a major earth quake
happening along the San Andreas Fault line. You may be asking what is so important about the
San Andreas Fault. According to the US Geological Survey the San Andreas Fault is “the master"
fault of an intricate fault network that cuts through rocks of the California coastal region. The
entire San Andreas fault system is more than 800 miles long and extends to depths of at least
10 miles within the Earth.” Below is an image of how massive the San Andreas Fault is,

One of the biggest earthquakes that happed along this fault was the historic 1906 earthquake
that carried a 7.9 magnitude, killed 3000 people, and destroyed nearly 80% of San Francisco. It
was because of this earthquake that inspired Hollywood what to produce this dramatic and
action packed film.
 Disasters in the Movies
Matthew Nielson
Geog - 1000
In the film “San Andreas” a group of scientist at Caltech have a theory of how to predict
earthquakes by measuring the earth’s magnetic release. While researching their theory they
find that there was a magnetic release that was happening at the Hoover dam and so they go to
investigate. Upon their arrival they notice that the magnetic outburst are happening more
frequently until the moment when a massive earthquake comes and destroys the Hoover dam
and kills one of the researchers thus confirming the accuracy of their theory. After returning to
Caltech in a somber mood because of the death of their fellow researcher information starts
coming in of consistent and strong magnetic out bursts along the San Andreas Fault. To make a
long story short a 9.4 magnitude earthquake hits San Francisco and then a few hours later a
predicted 9.6 aftershock hits which in turn causes a tsunami which wipes out the golden gate
bridge which stands at a height of 220ft.

All in all it was a pretty action packed and dramatic movie. Now comes the fun part! How much
of this movie is actually plausible?

We will start with the question, is it possible to have a 9.4 magnitude earthquake along the San
Andreas Fault? According to the US Geological Survey “The magnitude of an earthquake is
related to the area of the fault on which it occurs - the larger the fault area, the larger the
earthquake. The San Andreas Fault is 800 miles long and only about 10-12 miles deep, so that
earthquakes larger than magnitude 8.3 are extremely unlikely.” With that being said I want to
put into perspective how much destruction could occur with a 9.4 magnitude earth quake and
to do this I will first explain how an earthquake is measured. An earthquake is measured by
what is known as the Richter scale. This scale measures the logarithm of the amplitude of
waves recorded by seismographs. The Richter scale goes from 1 to 10 with one being the
lowest. With every increase in a whole number the severity of the quake increases 10 fold. Now
the biggest earthquake that has been recorded on the San Andreas Fault was 7.9 which
destroyed 80% of San Francisco so if a 9.4 magnitude earthquake were to hit San Francisco not
only would it be over 100 times stronger than the biggest one recorded but I would say that it
would absolute devastation.

Second question, in the movie the aftershock of the earthquake was stronger than the initial
earthquake. Is this possible? The answer to this question is in a since “yes”. An earthquake is
measured in 3 different segments, the foreshock, mainshock, and the aftershock. If the
aftershock is greater than the mainshock the original main shock becomes a foreshock and the
aftershock would become the mainshock.

Last question; can an earthquake on the San Andreas Fault line cause a 200ft tsunami as
portrayed in the movie? No. The San Andreas Fault lies on a transform plate boundary which
means the two tectonic plates slide past each other. In order for a tsunami of that size to occur
it would have to take place at a convergent plate boundary. This is because a in a convergent
plate boundary on tectonic plate is sliding under another and this cause energy to be released
as on plate slides under the other along the ocean floor. See graphic,
 Disasters in the Movies
Matthew Nielson
Geog - 1000

To conclude, the movie “San Andreas” was pretty entertaining with all of its graphics and
special effects. However, from a scientific perspective most if not all of the natural disasters
that took place are extremely unlikely or impossible.

Work Cited:
Earthquake Facts & Earthquake Fantasy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2018, from

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/megaqk_facts_fantasy.php

San Francisco Earthquake, 1906. (17, August 25). Retrieved April 22, 2018, from

https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/sf

U. (16, November 20). The San Andreas Fault - III. Where Is It? Retrieved April 22, 2018, from

https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq3/where.html