Hi All. For the most part the Pacific Plate is moving NW and the North American Plate in moving SE. For the North American Plate (NAP) that is true for the most part, but there are areas of the NAP that aren’t following the rules. When you look at the GPS receivers located at various different points in California and Nevada you will see that most if not all of California is being dragged towards the NW.

When you look at the GPS data in the extreme northwestern part of California and the southern part of Oregon you can see that it is moving towards the NE. This is most likely being caused by the Gorda plate being subducted under the North American plate and that area California and Oregon is being compressed. When this lets go the area that is being compressed will try to return to its original position.

To view this data go to The USGS site. “Earthquake Research”, then click on “crustal deformation” then click on “Global Positioning System (GPS) Observations” then click on one of the little circles. This will give you the direction in which a particular area is moving. Take Care…Don in creepy town