Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Accretionary Wedge Carnival!

This month's results from the Accretionary Wedge Carnival have been posted over at Green Gabbro, on the subject of (least) favorite geological misconceptions. There were some great posts submitted this month, and mine too. Check it out!

http://greengabbro.net/2008/01/23/accretionary-wedge-5-geological-misconceptions-and-pie/

I would like to add that when you think about it the right way, California will indeed "fall" into the Pacific Ocean, in the sense that right-lateral motion on the San Andreas and related fault systems will probably tear of a big chunk of Alta and Baja California and send it careening northwest through the Pacific Ocean towards Alaska at the stunning rate of a few centimeters per year. As I am fond of pointing out to my classes, this has already happened with some former parts of California that have already been incorporated into the Alaska mainland as exotic terranes (Look up the history of the Yakutat Terrane). Despite what the National Enquirer and the psychics might tell us, buying up ocean-front property in Nevada might be a bit premature....

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