The Rock Starrer San Andreas Far From Reality, Geologists Say [Watch]
San Andreas featuring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson can send shivers down spines of California residents. Geologists and seismologists however say that the movie exaggerates consequences of a quake the movie's namesake fault can cause.
The movie portrays 9.1 and 9.6 quakes caused by the fault, which geologist discount in reality as the San Andreas Fault is not deep or long enough, CBS News reports. The fault can muster a catastrophic 8.3 quake but nothing bigger. However an earthquake of 7.8 is sufficient to cause devastation to San Francisco and other parts of California.
Experts have also scoffed at the movie for showing an earthquake coming. A fictional seismologist Lawrence Hayes notices magnetic spikes that indicate a killer quake is on the anvil in California. In reality, experts have been trying to develop a quake-predictor system for several decades now with little success. The best of the earthquake alert systems can only warn after a quake has occurred, to give people in buildings precious seconds before killer shock waves hit.
Most importantly, the rupture of Earth and the monster tsunami shown in the movie has scientists calling the portrayal fantastical. The San Andreas Fault is of slip-strike type, where opposing blocks of rocks slide past horizontally ruling out the possibility for a gaping surface separation.
Tsunamis on the other hand are produced by monster earthquakes under ocean floor, by subduction faults and not slip-strike ones like San Andreas, given that enormous energies are required to displace massive columns of water.
