Is it really possible for CALIFORNIA to fall into the ocean?

Question

For as long as i can remember i have heard people saying California is going to have a big earthquake and fall into the ocean. Is that really possible?

Answer 1

Anything is possible, trust me, but the California thing is a little different than people would have you believe. The San Andreas fault is causing the two plates on either side to grind, not split. In other words, the western part of California (supposedly supposed to fall in the ocean) is actualyl moving northward towards alaska and will grind against the rest of california. People want to say its goign to fall into the ocean but california is not splitting westward...its going northward and in millions of years will be prime Inuit property

Answer 2

California cannot fall into the Pacific Ocean. The plates at the San Andreas fault are sliding by one another. One is going south, while the other goes north. Earthquakes result when their motion jams and pressure accumulates. Some plates have one going under another, e.g. India, but even then, no land mass is going to fall into an ocean. This whole idea is quite naive.

Answer 3

California will no longer be able to fall into the Pacific Ocean. The plates on the San Andreas fault are sliding via making use of one yet yet another. One is going south, on the comparable time because of the fact the numerous is going north. Earthquakes result whilst their action jams and rigidity accumulates. some plates have one going below yet yet another, e.g. India, yet even then, no land mass is going to fall into an ocean. this finished concept interior reason naive.

Answer 4

Yeah, but not abruptly. That event will happen millions of years from the present. The main cause for this is the movement of the San Andreas fault, which slides a part of california away from the US; this would then eventually subduct into the Aleutian trench millions of years into the future

Answer 5

single word answer...No. The motions of the tectonic plates in California is strike-slip. In other words the plates are moving past each other, not under or over each other.

Answer 6

Lets all hope so. Part of southern CA lies on a highly active fault system if enough tension built up and was suddenly released it would be possible for a section to separate from the rest of the continent and would then either become an island or more likely it would sink beneath the ocean. It is possible but not highly likely, at least not in the near future.

Answer 7

The San Andreas fault is along a zone that can make it all happen with the proper sized earthquake. Nevada would be ocean front property as a result of such an incident happening.

Answer 8

Don't know that it might actually happen, but the San Andreas fault http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault cuts through a lot of CA from North to South and if the area west of the fault was to 'slump' significantly after a quake, a lot of heavily populated areas would be underwater.