1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910460729403321

Autore

Meldahl Keith Heyer

Titolo

Surf, sand, and stone : how waves, earthquakes, and other forces shape the Southern California coast / / Keith Heyer Meldahl

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-520-96185-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (237 p.)

Disciplina

551.457097949

Soggetti

Coast changes - California, Southern

Geomorphology - California, Southern

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Author Note -- 1. Time, Faults, and Moving Plates: A Recipe for Southern California -- 2. Tsunamis -- 3. Earthquakes -- 4. Disassembling Southern California -- 5. Waves and Surfing -- 6. Beaches and Coastal Bluffs -- 7. Sea-Level Changes and the Ice Ages -- Afterword -- Acknowledgments -- APPENDIX: Seeing for Yourself -- Glossary -- Notes on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

"Meldahl takes the reader on a tour of coastal Southern California, deftly explaining its complex geologic history, coastal geology, surfing spots, and the processes that shape them. Richly illustrated and told with great humor and enlightening analogies, Surf, Sand, and Stone is easily accessible yet contains valuable resources for those who want to delve deeper."-Mark Johnsson, staff geologist, California Coastal Commission"; Surf, Sand, and Stone is an entertaining and very readable explanation of the complex geology and oceanography of the Southern California coast. Meldahl must be an excellent teacher as he has a real gift for writing about complex topics in a comfortable, engaging, and fascinating manner."; -Gary Griggs, Director, Institute of Marine Sciences, UC Santa Cruz Southern California is sandwiched between two tectonic plates with an ever-shifting boundary. Over the last several million years, movements of these plates have dramatically



reshuffled the Earth's crust to create rugged landscapes and seascapes riven with active faults. Movement along these faults triggers earthquakes and tsunamis, pushes up mountains, and lifts sections of coastline. Over geologic time, beaches come and go, coastal bluffs retreat, and the sea rises and falls. Nothing about Southern California's coast is stable. Surf, Sand, and Stone tells the scientific story of the Southern California coast: its mountains, islands, beaches, bluffs, surfing waves, earthquakes, and related phenomena. It takes readers from San Diego to Santa Barbara, revealing the evidence for how the coast's features came to be and how they are continually changing. With a compelling narrative and clear illustrations, Surf, Sand, and Stone outlines how the coast will be altered in the future and how we can best prepare for it.