"Everything west of I-5 will be toast" (Palmdale: how much, motel)

[blueskywalker]

Yeah, but then the super volcano in Yellowstone will erupt and your beach front property won't be a very pleasant place.

[shooting4life]

Originally Posted by blueskywalker

Yeah, but then the super volcano in Yellowstone will erupt and your beach front property won't be a very pleasant place.

What are you talking about, it will be nice and warm year round.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I"ve been hearing that the state would fall into the ocean since I was a kid.

I'm with LoriBee. We used to have earthquake drills, and air raid drills in San Leandro in the early 60's when I was a kid. Back then either an earthquake or the Russians would kill you. They told us if a nuclear bomb landed, to get under our desks LOL.

I can remember stores with the nuclear shelter symbols on them where we could go when the Russians bombed us. The Sears stores with basements had them.

I'm still alive.

Can it ever happen? Sure. Will worrying about it make a difference? No.

I looked up when an earthquake happened recently for a poster who was visiting San Francisco. Went to a geological website that showed earthquakes all over the country, and a lot of earthquake activity showed up in the midwest, in Kansas, I think. That surprised me. But it just goes to show, between hurricanes or floods or severe snowstorms or tornadoes or lightening or tsunamis or fires - there's nowhere you'll be perfectly safe. I'd rather live here until/if it happens.

[luv4horses]

The threat is real.
There is nothing one can do about it or to stop it.
The end would be quick.

Ignore it and keep on keepin' on.

(meanwhile look for a drop in property values...haha)

[SandyCo]

Lucy Jones, our favorite scientist, said that this statement isn't exactly true. The I-5 corridor would experience 7.0 shaking, but the coastal areas would indeed be "toast" after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by crouching_tiger

Look in the bright side, after this the West Coast will become real cheap again. No one will be complaining about the housing prices anymore.

I love how this is the first reply. Only in SoCal.

[funflyer99]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

What if you live high on a hill west of I-5?

Then you will have an island but, how large? that's depends on how far it sinks. Property taxes will no doubt quadruple.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

My oh, my, where to beginning cutting through anti-scientific, ill educated slag.

1) Plates don't sink (basic physics) as would a boat foundering.

2) An oceanic plate can subduct (it's convection driven) since they are basalt (again, basic physics).

3) There are a few instances of land that actually sits on oceanic plates. When such land reaches a subduction zone, the land is squeegeed off of the basalt plate and gets attached to the Continental Plate that the Oceanic Plate is subducting under.

4) While it is true that California west of the San Andreas system is on Oceanic Crust, that part of California will not sink. It will however become part of Alaska - tens of millions of years from now based on 2 in/yr plate motion.

5) Without plate tectonics Earth would be a big ocean, with no continents.

[Cardiff Kook]

Since I live just east of the 5 I guess I'll be ocean front!

[kettlepot]

When the big one hits, the North American plate will sink into the ocean and California will have ocean front property on both sides!

Every Californian between the ocean and the San Andreas will be sitting pretty with an ocean view.

Our housing prices will climb EVEN HIGHER! w00t!