Long about 1983, and still somewhat newlyweds, we were just doing the regular things young people do. Perhaps an unusual pairing (a city boy and a country girl), we were looking for journeys to start together. That summer, Lynn came to me with a request I could not refuse… “Let’s go to Peru… we’ll learn about Geology!” Well, being a city boy from Orinda with basically no travel in my resume’, I just wanted to go have fun with my girl and didn’t really understand the education potential that lay ahead. So, that winter we hooked up with the U.C. Davis Extension Program and boarded a plane with a group of excited folks yearning to learn about the Archeology and Geology of the Peruvian Andes.
Our flight took us deep into the skies away from home… a first for both of us. We arrived in Lima, Peru in the early a.m. darkness and heavy fog that is so common there in winter. A short bus ride later, we were all at our hotel, and I remember that visiting Lima was my first experience seeing the sight of heavily-armed police at any place of even minimal financial importance, including immediately from our plane…which was very unnerving.
A couple days later, after a hearty late breakfast (and a few traditional Pisco Sours), we all boarded the same plane that (I swear) was used in the last shot of Casablanca… and headed up into the air towards the REAL start of our journey… Cusco, Peru. Our plane was flying southeasterly, but we couldn’t see anything for the dense fog. Fortunately, the Breakfast Pisco’s, new friends and talk of the moving Earth kept everything bright and fun.
Suddenly, in the space of about 10 seconds, we cleared the fog. Directly in front of us, and forever to the north and south…was the Peruvian Andes. We were so close to the massive and splendid structure of the mountain range that I thought I could reach out and touch the 15,000 ft. high peaks. The sun was high, and the day was pure and clear, with the light bouncing off the bright snow… which was everywhere around us. It’s hard to express in writing the beauty of that scene at the time, but believe me… you have to go there if you ever can.
It was at that moment that our Trip Leader and professor, Paul Butler said to us “This is why we came here!” We flew directly into the ‘forever’ of those mountains, circled around some huge peaks to avoid the violent downdrafts, and landed in Cusco, an ancient city that nestled into a cozy spot at 11,500 ft. elevation. Our Casablanca plane was good for one more trip.
On that day I started to learn about the Earth and how it moves, a scientifically “new” field of study called Plate Tectonics. By 1983, this study of how the Earth’s plates move had been gathering real “steam” in the global geology community for about 25-odd years, having been around in lesser studies in the field previously.
Curiously for me, a Native Californian, this initial education took place in South America, in the area where the Nazca Plate dives down under the South American Plate. The result of plate movement in this area has pushed the Earth upward in a crumpled fashion, forming the massive Andes mountain range, and in turn the huge jungle expanses eastward. Many factors of geology, climate and time are at play here. The movement of the Earth in this region has basically formed the lives of thousands of generations of humans who survive there, and every second there is a chance that sudden movement from the pressures of the Earth could really put a damper on their day… earthquake and tsunami–wise.
Talk about “living on the edge”… welcome back to California and the San Andreas Fault! Our wonderful State (and surrounding regions), with so many different environments (Coastal, Valley, Mountain, Desert, etc.) has been formed by Father Time and Mother Earth as the Pacific Plate continuously mashes against the North American Plate… with the San Andres Fault as the main boundary between the two in California. There are certainly many geological points of discussion that I (as a Luthier) have no business submitting here, as any of my scientist friends will only get an even bigger laugh from my lack of knowledge of their passion, so I won’t. And, please don’t tell your friends at the Holiday Office Party that your luthier taught you about Plate Tectonics… because they’ll immediately move you away from the eggnog bowl.
I can feel the San Andreas Fault moving. This fault does not move “up and down” so much. It actually moves a bit “sideways”. It is called a Right-Lateral Strike Slip Fault. Which basically means in this instance that (luthier-theoretically) someday Los Angeles may physically end up somewhere near San Francisco… as the western side of the fault moves kind of north and westerly. This, of course, puts San Francisco somewhere out in the Pacific, but still reachable by party boat. I do not anticipate this happening suddenly, and I am not by nature a big worrier about earthquakes. But, the sad news is that if you Bay Area folks choose to never visit Southern California (traffic, smog, beaches too full, etc.)… well…. It is be coming to you at about 1.5 inches per year.
In California, it is hard to actually “see” the San Andreas Fault, because of development, or greenery, or because it simply does not show on the surface where one can see it in any smaller scale. But there are a number of ways to learn more.
First, you can go to www.sanandreasfault .org. At this website, you can get a plethora of information from mostly “non-luthier sources”… so you can keep drinking that egg nog during the holiday party. The Carizzo Plain National Monument in southeast San Luis Obispo County is a good day or weekend trip for exploring. This is a dry, yet fascinating place where you can take trips and actually stand on top of the fault, which is exposed at the surface. I recommend you go during spring wildflower season, as you may run into wide displays of native wildflowers. One can also get info either through the USGS or BLM websites. Finally… with a bit of work, you can plan a road trip (“Road Trip!”) that follows the fault from Parkfield to the Salton Sea (and beyond)… going through Frazier Park, where an Elementary School stands right next to the exposed fracturing from the California’s biggest recorded earthquake on January 9, 1857. These suggestions are only a start, as information and exploration in this study is vast in California. Along the way, it is has been my hope to learn more about the place I have lived these many decades, the Earth that moves around me every second. I will not ever be a professional in this area, just a tourist on the highway, and ever increasing gratitude fills my heart as a citizen and native of California while exploring the wonders of it all.