Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Earthquakes & the Land
The third-biggest state after Alaska and Texas, California covers over 155,000
sq miles, making it larger than 85 of the world's smallest nations. It's
bordered to the north by woodsy Oregon, to the east by desert-dry Nevada
and Arizona, to the south by subtropical Baja California, Mexico, and by 840
miles of Pacific shoreline to the west.
Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll
California is a complex geological landscape formed from fragments of rock and earth crust
scraped together as the North American continent drifted westward over hundreds of mil-
lions of years. The crumpled Coast Ranges, the depressed Central Valley and the still-rising
Sierra Nevada mountains all provide evidence of gigantic geological forces exerted as the
continental and ocean plates crushed together.
Everything changed about 25 million years ago, when ocean plates stopped colliding and
instead started sliding against each other. Today California sits on one of the world's major
earthquake fault zones, at the dramatic meeting of two moving plates: the eastern edge of
the Pacific Plate, made up of the Pacific Ocean floor and much of California's coastline,
and the western edge of the continental North American Plate.
The primary boundary between these two plates is the massive San Andreas Fault, which
runs for over 650 miles and has spawned numerous smaller faults that extend their treacher-
ous fingers toward California's shoreline. Because this contact zone doesn't slide smoothly,
but catches and slips irregularly, it rattles California with an ongoing succession of tremors
and earthquakes.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search