4. Plate motion along the San Andreas fault is about 5 cm (2 inches) per year.

Do Las Vegas and Los Angeles (1) move relative to each other 5 cm EACH year.

Or do they (2) stay locked together most of the time but move suddenly in big jumps (several m) whenever there is an earthquake along the southern part of the San Andreas fault?

Explain the reasoning behind your answer.

The best answer to the question: Plate motion along the San Andreas fault is about 5cm (2 inches) per year. Do Las Vegas and Los Angeles:___, would be, 1) Move relative to each other 5 cm EACH year.

Explanation:

The North American continent is an amalgamation of tectonic plates, huge slabs of solid ground that divide the Earth's liquid and burning core, from the lands where we all live. Just as if the continents were people on a boat, and the boat separates them from the water below, these plates (the boats) are liable to displacement, due to the movement of the liquid center of the Earth. In between places where tectonic plates meet, we find faults, and propably the most famous of all is San Andreas' fault. This fault is peculiar because it joins two plates: the Pacific and the North American Plate, and it is in constant motion and change. What is absolutely known about this fault is that the plates that form it are drifting apart from one another, with the Pacific moving to the Northwest 3 inches per year, taking with it the cities of Los Angeles, and San Diego, while the North American Plate is moving south at about 1 inch per year, taking with it all other portions of the United States with it. This is why the best answer is the first one.