San Andreas Rift Zone

Yes, this is it--the famous San Andreas Fault in southern Californa, boundary of the North American and Pacific Plates. The fault zone runs generally from lower right to upper left. The most currently active trace is parallel to the range front but out in the valley, beyond those low hills on the right. The light-colored rock in the center is sandstone units called the Devil's Punchbowl, a county park. The prominent drainage at lower right-center is Big Rock Creek. The mountains bulking up at the left are the San Gabriel Mountains, which are fault bounded--an uplifted block, in fact--and define the northern boundary of the Los Angeles Basin. The low country visible out to the upper right is part of the Mojave Desert. Seen looking northwesterly from CA State Route 2, the Angeles Crest Highway. It's a remarkably scenic route that doesn't fit most images of SoCal!