What are strike-slip faults?

Strike-slip faults are when two parts of Earth’s crust slide past each other like a sliding door.

Imagine you're playing with building blocks. If you push one side to the left and the other side moves to the right, it's like they’re dancing in a line, not going up or down, just moving sideways. That’s what happens in strike-slip faults!

Think of opening a sliding door at school. When you pull one side, the other side glides along without lifting off the ground. Earthquakes can happen like that too! The ground moves side to side, just like the door.

The San Andreas Fault in California is a famous strike-slip fault. It’s like a giant sliding door between two pieces of Earth. Sometimes you can feel it moving during an earthquake, and if you're lucky, you might even see cracks appear on the ground, like the door isn’t closing all the way!