Please answer my question!!!!!!!! about tectonic plates!!!!!!!!!!?
i was watching a show about the San Andreas Fault and it said that the Pacific plate went UNDER the North American plate. now i have studied earthquakes and volcanoes so i know what this means. but it said that the Pacific plate hopped out from under that North American plate and started heading NORTH. how is is possible for it to change course WHILE its under a plate??????????? i dont get it!!!!!!!!!!! please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As the Pacific plate slides under the NA plate there are huge stresses that build up in many different directions. Because the Pacific plate was trying to slide north, but the NA plate was preventing it from doing so, stresses started building up. At some point the stress gets to be huge and something breaks. In this case it resulted in the Pacific plate jolting in a northerly direction and releasing all the energy that had built up as stress.
When I first read your question I thought that maybe you had north and upward confused. Keep in mind that in this case the plate slipped towards Canada and not towards the surface. (You probably already understood this)
San Andreas Fault