Condor Watch Talk

Geography.

  • Rick_N. by Rick_N.

    Not being from those parts or a geographer, I'm guessing that most of the hills we see are part of the San Andreas Fault? Some look very 'folded', almost wrinkled.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    Hi Rick!

    You ask the best questions 😃

    I'm certainly not an expert so I'm sure one of the scientists and others can weigh in with more info.

    The San Andreas Fault is one of dozens and dozens of fault lines in CA. The San Andreas Fault is the one that gets the most publicity because it's so huge and also so studied - it reaches all the way up to Vancouver Island in Canada. It's also the most photogenic, being so large and visible being the border between the Pacific and the North American tectonic Plates. You can look at many graphics of the fault lines of Southern California and I don't think you ever find a map that includes all of them as there are so many and so many. These of course create the jagged mountains and rocky hills.

    The snow melting from these mountains has helped create flat plains and valleys. The hills we see (if I'm reading right) are areas of sea floor that have been thrust up from earthquake and plate activity and are also basins for sediment deposits. "Coastal geography" is also effected by that wonderful fog that scrubs the land, too.

    There are also extinct volcanoes in California that helped shape some of the landscape.

    Not sure if this is of any help California is an amazing state.

    Until then, I also await some more input on this - great question as always!

    Posted

  • Rick_N. by Rick_N.

    Thanks for your reply; it might seem a bit stupid, but now I have a clearer understanding of Californian geography. I thought it might be bad luck to mention the San Andreas fault: superstition! I guess I'm ill-informed...

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness moderator

    Questions are never stupid.

    It's not bad luck to mention it. California is an incredibly beautiful and unique State but sadly all those fault lines is one thing that is also is unique to it (the next major fault line in the United States, after the San Andreas, is located about 372 miles / 599 km
    from Chicago! )

    Those of us who don't live in California, which is a beautiful State, wonder how they put up with the earthquakes there as they are terrifying. They wonder how we put up with the tornadoes and extreme weather changes here in the Midwest. We wonder how people in the "South" put up with the heat in the summer (48c temps) and bugs the size of toilet plungers. I guess you just
    think of it all as "home" 😃

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  • DZM by DZM admin in response to wreness's comment.

    Is it a beautiful state?

    I get the impression that you think it's a beautiful state. 😃

    I guess you wonder how we put up with crushing snowstorms and sub-zero-Fahrenheit temperatures here in Chicago, hm?

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  • wreness by wreness moderator

    It's incredibly beautiful 😛 😄

    Don't forget our -45 windchill and the +112 degree heat indexes. Someone once said to me that you can tell you're in Chicago because you'll see someone walk by wearing a tank top, shorts and flip flops; and the next person will be wearing a parka, knit hat and boots. Both are correct 😄

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