Baja California Peninsula Research Paper

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Pages: 1

Baja California PeninSula was Part of North America. The Baja California Peninsula was once a part of the North American Plate, the tectonic plate of which mainland Mexico remains a part. About 12 to 15 million years ago the East Pacific Rise began cutting into the margin of the North American Plate, initiating the separation of the peninsula from it. A new look at geologic evidence shows that the Gulf of California, the sea that separates the Baja California peninsula from mainland Mexico, formed in as little as 6 million to 10 million years — much faster than most other ocean basins across the globe. Centered on Mexico's Laguna Salada Fault in Baja California, the earthquake was triggered by the same processes that drive temblors on the San