Salton Trough from the Little San Bernadino Mountains, Joshua Tree National Park. The Salton Trough is in some ways becoming the northernmost spreading center along the Gulf of California, helping to pull coastal California away from North America; in other ways, it is a large releasing bend along the San Andreas fault system as displacement steps right across the valley from the San Andreas Fault proper (at the near side of the Trough) to the Imperial Fault and San Jacinto Fault on the far side of the Trough. In this area, the Eastern California Shear Zone separates from the San Andreas Fault system and heads more northerly towards the east side of the Sierra Nevada. The San Andreas Fault itself lies between the Little San Bernadino Mtns. and the Salton Trough.