Gorda Escarpment. Showing the displacement of the submarine contours off northern California where the San Andreas Fault may bend seaward. According to this hypothesis, the Gorda Escarpment resulted from the seaward shift of the area tot he south. The dots are earthquakes epicentres and the accompanying numbers are magnitudes on the Richter Scale, which measures the intensity of earthquakes according to their damage to structures. It will be noted that the large earthquakes (6 and over) are concentrated along this escarpment. Shepard, 1960, p. 125.