Notes on California, the San Andreas Fault and Los Angeles

Early morning surfers
Originally uploaded by noeltykay.

California remains a land of opportunity. It has a world of beauty, wealth, brains and moxie.

Here's what wikipedia says about the state:

California is a state spanning the southern half of the west coast of the contiguous United States. With a population of 37 million and an area of 158,402 square miles (410,000 km²), California is the largest U.S. state in population and the third largest in area.

Historically, California had the highest density and greatest diversity of indigenous peoples in what is now the United States.

Although the state's sunny climate has given it a historic reputation for being laid back compared to the East Coast, the $1.55 trillion (as of 2005) California economy is larger than all but the top 7 national economies in the world [1] and is responsible for 13% of the United States' $13 trillion gross domestic product (GDP).

The state's predominant industries include agriculture, entertainment, light manufacturing, and tourism. California is also the home of several significant economic regions such as Hollywood (entertainment), the California Central Valley (agriculture), Silicon Valley (computers and high tech), and the Wine Country (wine).

It is the third largest state in the U.S and is larger than Germany in size.

The hot, fertile Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of America's food. The southern part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San Joaquin Valley (drained by the San Joaquin River), while the northern half is known as the Sacramento Valley (drained by the Sacramento River).

In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning Snowy Range in Spanish), which include the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4421 m). Also located in the Sierra are the world-famous Yosemite National Park and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe,

About 35% of the state's total surface area is covered by forests. California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. Though other states have a higher percentage of their land area covered by forests, in terms of total area, California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska.

Along the densely populated and long California coast are several major metropolitan areas, including San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Santa Ana-Irvine-Anaheim, Riverside-San Bernardino, California and San Diego. Climates near the Pacific Ocean are remarkably moderate compared with inland climates. Winter temperatures seldom reach freezing and summer temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (low 30's Celsius).

California is the most populous state—more than 12 percent of U.S. citizens live in the state. California's population is larger than all but 33 countries. About four million more people live in California than in all of Canada.

California has eight of the top 50 US cities in terms of population. Los Angeles is the nation's second largest city with a population of 3,845,541 people, followed by San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), San Francisco (14th), Long Beach (34th), Fresno (37th), Sacramento (38th) and Oakland (44th).

California lacks a majority ethnic group. It is the third minority-majority state, after Hawaii and New Mexico. Non-Hispanic Whites are still the largest group while Hispanics make up over one-third of the population; in order, other groups are Asians, Blacks, and Native Americans.

As of 2005, California's economy is larger than all but seven national economies in the world.[3] California is responsible for 13% of the United States gross domestic product (GDP), while the state population constitute only 12% of the United States population. The gross state product (GSP) is about $1.55 trillion ($1,550,000,000,000, as of 2004), making it greater than that of every other U.S. state, and most countries in the world (by Purchasing Power Parity).

The predominant industry, more than twice as large as the next, is agriculture, (including fruit, vegetables, dairy, and wine). This is followed by aerospace; entertainment, primarily television by dollar volume, although many movies are still made in California; light manufacturing, including computer hardware and software; and the mining of borax.

Per capita personal income was $33,403 as of 2003, ranking 12th in the nation.

The giant seaport complex formed by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California is the largest in the country and responsible for handling about a fourth of all container cargo traffic in the United States.

Major league teams

Baseball
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Los Angeles Dodgers
Oakland Athletics
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants

National Basketball Association
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Sacramento Kings

National Football League
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers
San Francisco 49ers

National Hockey League
Anaheim Ducks
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks

Major League Soccer
Club Deportivo Chivas USA
Los Angeles Galaxy

Other teams
National Lacrosse League
San Jose Stealth
Major League Lacrosse
San Francisco Dragons
Los Angeles Riptide
Arena Football League
San Jose Sabercats
Los Angeles Avengers

American Basketball Association
Beijing Aoshen Olympian
Carson Buzz
Fresno Heatwave
San Diego Wildcats

Continental Basketball Association
San Jose SkyRockets
Women's National Basketball Association
Los Angeles Sparks
Sacramento Monarchs




The San Andreas Fault is a geological fault that runs a length of roughly 800 miles (1287 kilometres) through western and southern California in the United States. The fault, a right-lateral strike-slip fault, marks a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate.

A study completed by Yuri Fialko, an associate professor at the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (an academic unit of the University of California, San Diego), published in the June 22, 2006 edition of the journal Nature, has demonstrated that the San Andreas fault has been stressed to a level sufficient for the next "big one", as it its commonly called, that is, an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater. The study also concluded that the risk of a large earthquake may be increasing faster than researchers had previously believed. Fialko also emphasized in his study that, while the San Andreas Fault has experienced massive earthquakes in 1857 at its central section and in 1906 at its northern segment (the great San Francisco earthquake), the southern section of the fault has not seen a similar rupture in at least 300 years.

If such an earthquake were to occur, Fialko's study stated, it would result in substantial damage to Palm Springs and a number of other cities in San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial counties in California. Such an event would be felt throughout much of Southern California, including densely populated areas of metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego.

"All these data suggest that the fault is ready for the next big earthquake but exactly when the triggering will happen and when the earthquake will occur we cannot tell," Fialko said. "It could be tomorrow or it could be 10 years or more from now," he concluded




Los Angeles, known as "L.A." or the "City of Angels", is the largest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, the city had a population of 3.8 million. The city is the core cultural and economic center of the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area with a population of 12.9 million.[1]



Men and women gather around the Plaza Church (Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles) sometime between 1890 and 1900. The block building features an arched doorway, ocular windows, and a gazebo-like structure mounted on the roof. Faint impressions of paintings on the exterior of the building are evident.

The Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles was founded on September 4, 1781 by a group of Mexican pobladeros (settlers).

The Hispanic, Asian American, and Caribbean populations are growing particularly quickly — the Asian American population is the largest of any city in the U.S and the city contains the largest concentration of Los Angeles County's 1.4 million Asians. Los Angeles hosts the largest populations of Armenians, Cambodians, Filipinos, Guatemalans, Hungarians, Koreans, Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Thais in the world outside of their respective countries. Los Angeles is also home to the largest populations of Japanese and Persians living in the U.S., and has one of the largest Native American populations in the country.


Los Angeles is home to people from more than 140 countries, who speak at least 224 different languages. Ethnic enclaves like Chinatown, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Ethiopia, Little Persia, Little Tokyo, and Thai Town give testimony to the polyglot character of Los Angeles and its unique diversity.