Welcome to the Bay Area!

Of course we chose the Bay Area since this is where Stanford is located, but from a bird's eye view the landforms are also fairly spectacular. Here the knife-sharp faults of the San Andreas run up alongside the Coast Ranges until disappearing into the ocean at Point Reyes. The Coast Ranges themselves show the effects from the faults in their drainage patterns as well as their abrupt mountain fronts.

By examining the satellite images, Quicktime VR's, and fly-through animations, viewers have the ability to see the relationship between basic aspects of plate tectonics and their relationship to topography.