Glen and Mike:

Again, I am not sure how to phrase the question so bear with me...

The state is criss-crossed and filled up with fault lines. As I look at the map, it appears to me as a gigantic jigsaw puzzle with "pieces" of various sizes connected together to form the large whole. Has any research been done treating each of those pieces as something of a plate in and of themselves?

I understand the larger concept of the Pacific plate smashing itself into the North American plate and we can see the effects quite easily. Has there been any research focusing on the effect of the movement of a given area bordered by fault lines against another area bordered by fault lines?

My thinking comes from the idea that if I place loosley connected pieces of something on a flat surface and apply pressure from any side, one piece will affect the movement of the others; maybe in a chaotic way, but maybe in a mathematically predictable way. (???) It seems to me that the shape and the mass of any given piece would be a determinate as to how it interacts with the pieces around it.

If there is pressure causing our corner of the world to move generally northward, is there some evidence of that same effect? Am I completely off my rocker?

Russell