Earthquakes are fairly common around here, and a lot of that is to do with the pesky Pacific plate meeting the North American plate. We're moving down while the Pacific is moving up, and along 800 miles of this is the San Andreas Fault. Today we went to see it by walking the Earthquake Trail at Point Reyes Visitors Centre!
The fault itself is a bit strange - there's a long range of hills with a flat valley running virtually down the middle. Apparently California will eventually be transferred entirely onto the Pacific plate (taking advantage of lower real estate prices) and this might happen sooner rather than later; the whole fault is at a stress level that should result in a magnitude 7 quake any time. But it'll be in Southern California, so that's fine (move north, Jim and Gen!)
David: worried.
Hannah: not so much.
Yes.
Here's how much the fault moved in the 1906 quake. Sixteen feet!
