Tour of the Hayward Fault

So I know this post has nothing to do with crafting, but I just wanted to share the adventure I went on today with my friend Michael. I took a Geology class a few quarters ago at CSUEB and one of the main focuses was on the big ol' Hayward fault, which is due for a big ol' earthquake in the not-too-distant-future. Today I took Michael around and showed him all of the evidence of fault movement scattered throughout the old downtown. (Man, we are such big tourists!)

My personal favorite is a curb on the corner of Rose and Prospect streets. This curb is world famous because it is the largest measured displacement of a man made object by a fault line. All the other curbs at this intersection are new, but when this curb was due to be replaced geologists from all over the world banded together to save it. The line drawn in 2006 already shows the smallest amount of movement, but in relative terms it's quite a bit.

After the famous curb we went to check out the old city hall. It looks pretty good from the outside, but it's condemned and the reasons are very apparent when you peek through the windows:

The place is riddled with giant cracks at all the corners of doors and windows, there's a huge dip in the floor, and the staircases are pulling away from the walls. They can't tear it down because its an historical site. And around the back there was some creepieness, broken windows and drawings from someone's child and a 1982 calendar just left there, it really creeped me out.

Lastly we went around and checked out all the walls that are being warped by the fault. It goes directly underneath a big swath of downtown, and the warped walls and off-kilter buildings make it very unsettling to be down there. (This little guy looks ready to split in half...)

(That wall pic is taken looking straight on, the far end is NOT supposed to be curved out like that!) Anywho, just thought you might like to see what fun I have on my weekends muahaha!