The newest Dwayne Johnson film has hit a cord by traveling into the realm of realism and Californians might want to be take a moment to be concerned, perhaps even prepare for the possibility of a tsunami hitting the southern coast, as researchers behind a study published back in May have warned of just such a scenario.
According to Slash Gear, the researchers warned of the possibility of a tsunami hitting the southern California coast after further exploration of underwater fault lines revealed 7.9 to 8.0 magnitude earthquakes to be entirely possible due to geological fractures— a clash between the North American tectonic plate and the Pacific tectonic plate, which increases pressure on fault lines. This information was collected through a mix of new and old technology and conclusions being made are based on decades old information.
This was confirmed by a report on Wired which indicated that while the San Andreas may be the more popular fault, the coastal faults pose an equally terrifying threat, as they often lead to land shifts accompanied by large tidal waves. Despite their relatively slow movements, any movement is bad.
It has proven to be decades worth of work to achieve a cohesive map of the faults along the coast due to a lack of funding by Congress. The difficulty in mapping aquatic faults has made the work long, slow and the maps inconsistent.
Geologist Mark Legg and his team, who have been working the faults, are concerned. The problem appears to be two specific fault lines, according to a report on TIME which cited information provided by research to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, though, fortunately, the possibility of a small scale tsunami is where the similarities between the movie San Andreas and reality end. Realistically speaking, any tsunami to hit L.A. would be much smaller than Hollywood pictures in the movies, but that doesn’t make it insignificant. As Mark Legg told Slash Gear, save the panicking for the actual disaster, but be sure to prepare “now that we know there is a local tsunami potential”.
There is no need to panic and worry but you should be prepared now that we know there is a local tsunami potential
In other extreme weather coverage here at Immortal News, Australia saw some interesting weather conditions when it began raining spiders.
To our California readers, are you prepared for a tsunami?
