Cape Mendocino
{{Short description|Cape in Mendocino County, California, United States}}
Cape Mendocino (Spanish: Cabo Mendocino, meaning "Cape of Mendoza"),{{Cite book |last=Sanchez |first=Nellie Van de Grift |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxwTAAAAYAAJ&q=mendocino&pg=PA358 |title=Spanish and Indian Place Names of California: Their Meaning and Their Romance |date=1914 |publisher=A.M. Robertson |isbn=978-1-4047-5084-5 |language=en}} which is located approximately {{convert|200|mi|}} north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude, it is the westernmost point on the coast of California.{{cite gnis|254709|Cape Mendocino}} The South Cape Mendocino State Marine Reserve and Sugarloaf Island are immediately offshore, although closed to public access due to their protected status.California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Protected Marine Areas, 14 March 2013.California Department of Fish and Wildlife, [http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mpa/ncmpas_list.asp Sugarloaf Island Special Closure] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922233232/http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/mpa/ncmpas_list.asp|date=2017-09-22}}, 2015. Sugarloaf Island is cited as California's westernmost island.[http://www.californiampas.org/pages/regions/northcoast/SurgarLoafIslandsc.html Sugarloaf Island Special Closure], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150713083629/http://www.californiampas.org/pages/regions/northcoast/SurgarLoafIslandsc.html|date=2015-07-13}}, California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, accessed July 12, 2015.
History
File:AntonioMendoza (cropped).jpg, the namesake of Cape Mendocino]]
It was named by 16th-century Spanish navigators to honor Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain,{{cite book |last1=Gudde |first1=Erwin G. |title=California Place Names |date=1969 |publisher=University of California Press |page=198 |edition=Third}} Cape Mendocino has been a landmark since the 16th century, when Manila Galleons followed the prevailing westerlies across the Pacific to the Cape, then followed the coast south to Acapulco, Mexico. The Cape Mendocino Light was lit on December 1, 1868, standing on eight prefabricated panels sent from San Francisco. An automated light stood near the original location but was removed in 2013.{{Cite rowlett|ca|access-date=9 September 2012}}
Geology
File:Ferndale Eureka RegionHistoricSeismicity.jpg
The Cape Mendocino region of California's north coast is one of the most seismically active regions in the contiguous United States. Three earthquakes with epicenters nearby at the town of Petrolia and offshore west of Cape Mendocino, 25–26 April 1992, were outstanding, one reaching 7.2 Mw;{{Cite web |url=https://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1992_04_25_26.php |title=Cape Mendocino, California Earthquakes |publisher=United States Geological Survey |accessdate=2009-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090909212640/http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1992_04_25_26.php |archive-date=2009-09-09 |url-status=dead }} shaking the town so badly, fires broke out and burned down historic buildings, including the 100-year old general store and the original post office. Even the fire station suffered so much shifting from the quakes, fire crews had a difficult time extinguishing the fires.{{Cite web|url=https://seismo.berkeley.edu/blog/2017/04/25/today-in-earthquake-history-cape-mendocino-1992.html|title=Today in Earthquake History: Cape Mendocino 1992|website=seismo.berkeley.edu|access-date=2019-06-25}} The quakes demonstrated that the Cascadia subduction zone is both capable of producing large earthquakes and generating tsunamis. Many geologists and seismologists believe that the main shock in the 1992 sequence may be a forerunner of a much more powerful earthquake in the Pacific Northwest.{{Cite web |author=Moley |first=Kathy |title=Why we have earthquakes: a unique geologic setting |url=http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~geodept/earthquakes/shaky2_why.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909051238/http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~geodept/earthquakes/shaky2_why.html |archivedate=2006-09-09 |accessdate=2009-10-21}}
Offshore of Cape Mendocino lies the Mendocino triple junction, a geologic triple junction where three tectonic plates come together. The San Andreas Fault, a transform boundary, runs south from the junction, separating the Pacific plate and the North American plate. To the north lies the Cascadia subduction zone, where the Gorda plate is being subducted under the margin of the North American plate. Running west from the triple junction is the Mendocino Fault, the transform boundary between the Gorda plate and the Pacific plate. Cape Mendocino California is part of the Cascadia subduction zone.
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See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Cape Mendocino}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121004153431/http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=25 Cape Mendocino Lighthouse]
- [https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/operations/obs/rmobs_pub/html/mendocino.html Mendocino Triple Junction Offshore Northern California]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20050316105957/http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/faultmaps/fault141.html USGS Mendocino fault zone map]
- [http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/geo_history_wa/Cascade%20Episode.htm Cascadia tectonic history with map]
- [http://www.humboldt.edu/shakyground/info/why_care/you_live_in_earthquake_country1/ Living on Shaky Ground: How to Survive Earthquakes & Tsunamis in Northern California]
{{Authority control}}{{Coord|40.4401|N|124.4095|W|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=title}}