Gulf of California Rift Zone

Northernmost extension of the East Pacific Rise

The Gulf of California Rift Zone (GCRZ) is the northernmost extension of the East Pacific Rise which extends some 1,300 km (800 mi) from the mouth of the Gulf of California to the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault at the Salton Sink.

The GCRZ is an incipient rift zone akin to the Red Sea Rift. In the GCRZ continental crust originally associated with the North American plate has been pulled apart by tectonic forces and is being replaced by newly formed oceanic crust and seafloor spreading. The rifting has resulted in the transfer of the Baja California peninsula to the Pacific plate.

List of GCRZ transform faults

From north to south:

From north to south:

Clayton, W.R. & Trampert, J. & Rebollar, C. & Ritsema, Jeroen & Persaud, Patricia & Paulssen, J.A.M. & Pérez-Campos, Xyoli & Wettum, A. & Perez-Vertti, A. & DiLuccio, F.. (2004). The NARS-Baja seismic array in the Gulf of California rift zone. MARGINS Newslett. 13.

North America
(crosses national borders)

Canada

United States

Washington and Oregon	Brothers Fault Zone Olympic–Wallowa lineament Puget Sound (Seattle Fault, Tacoma Fault) Walker Lane
California	Calaveras Fault Garlock Fault Hayward Fault Zone Mendocino fracture zone Newport–Inglewood Fault Puente Hills Fault Rose Canyon Fault San Jacinto Fault Zone (Elsinore Fault Zone)
Great Basin	Independence Valley fault system Moab Fault Teton Fault Wasatch Fault
Great Plains	Humboldt Fault Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system Meers Fault Nemaha Fault Zone
Midwest	Marianna Fault New Madrid seismic zone Sandwich Fault Zone Wabash Valley seismic zone
Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic Coast	Eastern Tennessee seismic zone Northern Appalachians seismic zone Ramapo Fault Virginia seismic zones
Alaska	Salcha seismic zone

Caribbean and Mexico

v t e Tectonic plates of Central America (Pacific plate–North American plate–Caribbean plate c onvergence zone)
Large	Cocos plate Nazca plate
Small	Rivera plate
Faults and rift zones	Atl Fault Atoyac Fault Ballenas Fault Carmen Fault Cerro Prieto Fault Chapala Tula Fault Zone Donaji Fault Guaymas Fault Gulf of California Rift Zone Farallon Fault Imperial Fault Zone Oaxaca Fault Pedro Miguel Fault Pescadero Fault Rivera Transform Fault Polochic Fault–Motagua Fault San Lorenzo Fault Tamayo Fault
Trenches and troughs	Alarcon Basin Carmen Basin Consag Basin Delfin Basin Guaymas Basin Middle America Trench (Acapulco/Guatemala) San Pedro Mártir Basin Tehuantepec Ridge Wagner Basin
Other	Rivera triple junction List of faults in Costa Rica List of seismic faults in Mexico