PRINCIPAL TRENDS [c1, p7]

With some notable exceptions, the fault trends about N. 35°-40° W. ( Figure 1.3). In its central section between the latitudes of San Jose and Bakersfield, the fault is relatively simple and straight, but farther to the south and north several branches splay from the main active trace. Near San Jose, where the fault bends about N. 50° W., the Calaveras and Hayward faults splay to the east and trend between N. 20° and 35° W. South of the latitude of Bakersfield, the main fault changes most sharply in strike, in what commonly is referred to as the Big Bend reach of the fault. For 120 km or more the fault strikes about N. 60° W., where it bounds the Mojave block on the south. This bend has significant tectonic implications (see chaps. 2 and 3, and maps at front of book).

South of the latitude of Los Angeles, the Elsinore and San Jacinto faults splay to the southeast, forming, in a general way, a reversed image of the splays in the San Francisco Bay region, although both faults trend about N. 50 W ( Figure 1.3).