 The Salton Trough is part of the complex plate boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate where it undergoes a transition from the continental transform of the San Andreas Fault system to the series of short spreading centers of the East Pacific Rise linked by oceanic transforms in the Gulf of California . The two main right – lateral strike @-@ slip fault strands that extend across the southern part of the trough are the Elsinore Fault Zone / Laguna Salada Fault to the western side of the trough and the Imperial Fault to the east . The Imperial Fault is linked to the San Andreas Fault through the Brawley Seismic Zone , which is a spreading center beneath the southern end of the Salton Sea . 
