Is an Earthquake Large Enough to Cripple the Entire West Coast of North America Possible? I have an idea for a novel I want to turn into a reality, and I'm starting some research first to make my book at least plausible in very specific conditions. The main aspect of the story would be focused around the Northwest Coast of the US after an earthquake has completely demolished everything, turning it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
The main question I'm attempting to answer currently is if this is even possible. I know the Sand Andreas fault line is a major concern presently due to its high capability to release an exorbitant amount of energy in a single quake, but given all the conditions were perfect, is it possible that a single earthquake could cause enough damage to rip apart the entire West Coast? And if not in a single earthquake, can one quake, given it was powerful enough to trigger a series of seismic activity all along the West Coast, cause such a catastrophic, apocalyptic event?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you all for your time!
Never say never, but it's unlikely.
Every geological fault is not uniform. There are bumps and snags of varying size and strength along its three intentional surfaces. As once fault surface moves over the other some of the snags can break off resulting in localized quakes at the site of the breakages.
Similarly, for very strong, robust snags (protuberances) which ride over the other surface as they suddenly hit a dimple in the other surface or simply just ride along another surface protuberance on the surface of the other side of the fault it slams into the other surface. This causes another form of localized earthquake.
For an earthquake to hit the entire north west region of the US, these type of events would have to occurs along the entire length of the fault simultaneously.