The Walker Lane/Eastern California Sheer Zone is an extensive and complex tectonic rift system of mostly right lateral, strike-slip fault strands east of the Sierra-Nevada, stretching longitudinally between the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin geomorphic/tectonic provinces.

The Walker Lane Belt and the San Andreas Fault System, together, define the North American-Pacific Plate boundary in California, and work in concert to accommodate relative tectonic movement and displacement between the plates.


The Walker Lane has been measured to express approximately 20% of the motion and strain between the Pacific and North American Plates, while the San Andreas System takes up approximately 80% of the tectonic energy of the plate margin.

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