During this trip we purposely went to a place with heavy geologic
activity, because the landscapes in these areas are usually breathtaking. We took a trip to Monterey County, CA which
is part of the home to the San Andreas Fault and Parkfield the “earthquake capital
of the world”.
It was difficult to traverse the area. The reason why is apparent from the overview,
as it illustrates the evidence of a lot of tectonic activity. Over time the land has been deformed and folded,
creating small mountain ranges. However,
the Salinas River has done a pleasant job of cross cutting or eroding away the
central section of the county that many people now call home.
The most interesting aspect of the county is the San Andreas
Fault. This fault is a well know
right-lateral strike-slip fault between the Pacific and the North American tectonic
plates. In layman’s term, the west side
of California is moving in a northward direction while the east side is moving
south. There are also side effects from
this large tectonic movement. On the
central west side of the county there is igneous rocks that show in the past
volcanic activity has taken place. Additionally,
this area prone to consistent earthquakes and has produced 6.0 earthquakes or
greater on average every 22 years.
If I had more time I would have liked to observed and now
wonder, if there are historic rock formations that are split and traveling in
different directions to show the movement along the fault? I would also be very curious to know how this
continued tectonic movement will deform the landscape in the distant future. Is there evidence of this land sinking into
the ocean or will it simple moving away from its eastern counterpart?
No comments:
Post a Comment