Documenting Fault Offset
The Hayward Fault in Oakland, California
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Photographs are valuable for documenting fault motion. They should be dated, and they should include a familiar object to serve as a scale. A penny, as everyone knows, is 19 mm across. Geologists often use a sturdy plastic scale with centimeters marked off in black and white. Such photos can be especially valuable in the hours, days and weeks after a large earthquake, because postseismic motion continues during that time.
Photo (c) 2005 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com. (fair use policy)
