Why Can’t California Just Fall Into The Ocean Already?!?!
Once again let me take you back to the ’80’s. We had Thundercats, Voltron, Care Bears, and of course the constant fear of Global Thermal Nuclear War, everyone had AIDS, and California was going to fall into the ocean at any given moment. It was truly the best of times and the worst of times. So why aren’t we all ashes, or withering away, or at least living in floating post apocalyptic water cities by now? Science, thats why!
There are, of course, three types of faults: strike-slip, normal and thrust (reverse) faults. The ones that concern California fall into the category of strike-slip, this is where rock strata are displaced mainly in a horizontal direction, parallel to the line of the fault. These slowly, continuously move, while the locked sections seem to get stuck. According to “San Andreas Fault Facts” The stuck sections of the fault store energy like springs, slowly building up strain until — sproing! — they suddenly unzip and slide past one another in an earthquake (Oskin 2015). Still this is going in a Northern direction and not a western one, which means that one day Los Angeles will be adjacent to San Fransisco, but will never be catawampus to Atlantis.
The average annual rate the Pacific Plate movies in relation to the North American plate is 46 mm per year to the northwest (similar to the rate your fingernails grow). This is an average plate movement, whereas a large earthquake in the San Andreas Fault could trigger significantly larger localized movement on the order of tens of feet in seconds. However, it does not allow for a massive drop or westward movement required to have California "fall into the ocean." (Nace 2017).
Although, I have to admit that the nihilistic side of me wouldn't mind the loss of the current mentality that seems to come from the golden state… Oh come on, why hold back, the only thing I would actually miss is the 15 second moment of silence that I would lose out of my precious day. Yet again, I digress…
As always, Keep on keeping on! Try to stay happy, warm, and dry!
Me
Nace, Trevor. “California Will Never Break Off From The US And Fall Into The Ocean.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 6 Feb. 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/02/06/california-will-break-away-us/.
Oskin, Becky. “San Andreas Fault Facts.” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Mar. 2015, www.livescience.com/45294-san-andreas-fault.html. Accessed 29 Aug. 2017.