Posted by . on October 16, 2001 at 10:54:31:
In Reply to: New dive site Isla Calafia :o) posted by scubabum on October 16, 2001 at 09:09:38:
URL: http://www.insidevc.com /vcs/state/article/0,1375,VCS_122_849095,00.html
Island 'found' in Santa Barbara Channel
SANTA BARBARA (AP) -- A geology professor has discovered a "lost" island that may yet re-emerge from the
Santa Barbara Channel.
The island, dubbed Isla Calafia, is 300 feet under water but was above sea level at the height of the Ice Age 20,000
years ago, said Ed Keller of the University of California, Santa Barbara. He will present his findings to the
Geological Society of America in Boston next month.
"We've been trying to understand the earthquake hazard in the Santa Barbara area," Keller told the Santa Barbara
News-Press. "We were surprised to find what used to be an island out there."
The island, between Santa Cruz Island and the Santa Barbara harbor, is part of an underwater ridge as long and
wide as the Santa Ynez Mountains to the north. When it jutted above the Pacific Ocean, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa
Rosa and San Miguel islands were all a single land mass.
Isla Calafia could rise again -- in about 50,000 years -- as the Santa Barbara region gets squeezed by the Pacific
and North American tectonic plates, Keller said.
October 16, 2001
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