The Gulf of California opens
Baja California is sliced off the mainland and starts moving northwest with the Pacific plate.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 967 thousand years
- Known to
- ± 500 thousand years
- Era
- Miocene, Cenozoic
Around 6 million years ago the plate boundary jumps inland from the offshore trench to a new rift through mainland Mexico, transferring Baja California to the Pacific plate. Seafloor spreading begins in a series of short segments linked by transform faults, opening the Gulf of California. Los Angeles and the rest of coastal California west of the San Andreas are on the same moving block, which is why they are travelling slowly toward Alaska.