[Spridgets] California sliding away....NOT!

[Flash.]

NERD

On 10/24/07, Jim Johnson <bmwwxman at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/24/07, Glen Byrns <grbyrns at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> > The continental shelf is riding UP and OVER the Pacific plate.
> > California is actually rising, not sinking.
>
> Ummm...   Glen...   The San Andreas is a classic right-lateral,
> strike-slip fault. No subduction at all.  All land west of the fault
> on the Pacific Plate is moving slowly to the northwest while all land
> east of the fault is moving to the southwest (relatively southeast as
> measured at the fault) under the influence of plate tectonics. The
> rate of slippage averages approximately 33-37 mm/year across
> California.
>
> Projected motion indicates that the Gulf of California will expand
> northward at the same time that the landmass west of the fault,
> including the Baja California peninsula and the California coast
> (including Los Angeles) slides past San Francisco, then continuing
> northwestward as an island mass toward the Aleutian Trench, over a
> period of perhaps twenty million years.
>
> Throughout that process, there will be occasional *very* violent and
> destructive quakes as the lateral pressure builds along a snag in the
> fault strike-slip line.
>
> This per my geology courses (Univ. Nebr) and per my brother, chief
> geologist for Alphageosciences who turned down a lucrative position
> with a California firm years ago saying, "Knowing what you do about
> the earthquake situation in this area, you want me to move my family
> here?"
>
> Go to the UC Davis head office and ask for your money back on that geo
> course  ;-)
> -
> Cheers!!
> Jim - 68 Midget in Dodge City
> Don't miss 50 Years of Spridgets at Lake of the Ozarks, June 26-29, 2008!!
> For info... http://www.Sprite-MidgetClub.org
> _______________________________________________
>
> --
> "I didn't set goals as I went along; I just wanted to be quick as possible
> and win as much as possible.  I didn't look at the past, I didn't look at
> the history, I didn't look at how many rallies other people had won - you
> just go and win as many rallies as you can."  Colin McRae, 08/05/1968
> -  09/15/2007