So what has caused the road damage? It was seen on our road trip last Saturday that also included my musings about the journey of a normal looking rock. A clue might include the fact that I convinced a bunch of otherwise mature and responsible college students to act silly in the middle of an occasionally busy highway (note the road repairs).
6 comments:
Could it be the San Andreas Fault? And you told the students to stand over the fault, with one foot on the Pacific Plate and one foot on the North American Plate...
I was going to guess slumping- here in the PNW, these sorts of things are ubiquitous. The en-echelon fracturing seen in the first picture is exactly what I would expect if downhill was to the right. However, trying to imagine the larger context here, I think Randy's idea (or some similar fault) has a better chance of being right.
I just love the shot of the students!
Hmmmm.... and the cracks are consistent with a right-lateral sense of shear...
(May I use this photo in Structure after break? We try to make structures like this with modeling clay, but it's really cool to see it for real in California!)
Kim, you are absolutely welcome to use any of my photos
That would probably be Cienega Road west of Hollister, which crosses the San Andreas.
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