With all the extra people coming across the border and moving there from across the US (and elsewhere), is all the extra weight just going to make it snap off and sink into the Pacific? Does the increase weight make it more likely that the land will put pressure on the San Andreas fault and make earthquakes more likely? Smart-mouthed and scientific answers will both be appreciated.
2006-07-14 17:05:18 · 11 answers · asked by porthuronbilliam 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
No. The weight of the people of California is much less than the weight of the land itself. The problem exists in plate boundaries and fault lines.
2006-07-14 17:09:42 · answer #1 · answered by harmonslide 2 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Ah, I was going to restrain myself until you said smart-mouthed answers were welcome.
Where the **** did you get such a notion???? California falling into the ocean is SO 1980's!!
A bit more seriously, plate tectonic theory predicts that California (over tens of millions of years) will split along the San Andreas fault...everything to the west will eventually become an island. That's a line roughly from El Centro to San Fransisco. Baja California (Mexico) is the start of that mass of land breaking off from North America.
2006-07-15 04:29:48 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can't "sink" because a continent is not floating.
The only cracks that occur is when underground plates shift, in the naturally occurring cycle of earth. It would take many earthquakes for part of California to begin to crack, and eventually start shifting away, which of course it will some day. But "weight" and pressure on land has nothing to do with what is already occurring beneath the surface and it is a dynamic.
2006-07-15 00:32:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the population is soaring than their feet are clearly not on the ground. If their feet are not on the ground than neither can their weight be. So, as long as the population continues to soar there will actually be less weight on good 'ol San Andreas insuring a safe a happy environment for all!! Of course, this may cause considerable problems for those in aviation!
2006-07-15 00:14:15 · answer #4 · answered by Dantes 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The ocean is too shallow for that. California can be filled to the gills with humanity and it won't be enough to depress the land to do that. It is a popular exaggeration, like raining cats and dogs. It won't happen. The land masses are far, far bigger than anything we can do, short of emptying fluids like oil and water from long established reservoirs. Even that is small compared to the pressures of the subduction zone from the plates being shoved by each other there.
2006-07-15 00:16:05 · answer #5 · answered by Rabbit 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since the plate upon which California sits is pushing into the mainland, I don't know how it could fall away.
2006-07-15 00:09:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually it would would have sunk a while ago except all the gold that was taken out and moved to fort knox or NYcity made california way lighter than it originally was
2006-07-15 01:33:09 · answer #7 · answered by duhman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nope, it's just gonna be like a little river between CA and the other states... don't worry, u'll be dead by the time CA actually drifts away from America....
2006-07-15 00:09:10 · answer #8 · answered by [Unknown] 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing has ever fallen onto the ocean.
The people, however many, could never impact tectonics.
2006-07-15 02:03:41 · answer #9 · answered by QFL 24-7 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's predicted that california will chip off the american continent. i don't know how true...
2006-07-15 02:28:35 · answer #10 · answered by kat-dog 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋