SG1
Location: Princeton (Pilar Point)
Fault: Seal Cove / San Gregorio
Once a quiet unknown beach area near the town of Princeton, this area is a very popular spot at certain times of the year. The people aren’t coming to see the Seal Cove fault, and probably only the local surfers know about how a submerged, offshore strand of the San Gregorio fault zone has created the perfect conditions for creating the monster waves of the legendary surf local they know as “Mavericks”.
Our fault creep measurement array spans a swampy lagoon along the Seal Cove fault just east of Pillar Point. There has been no creep recorded at this site since 1980, but the fault is well expressed geomorphically as a large fault scarp that rises up from the Half Moon Bay marine terrrace and extends from Pillar Point north to Moss Beach.