Another thing I just thought of: there are no fires in any of the collapsed buildings in Sun Valley. You’d expect some to be triggered by the red-hot rocks we saw flying out of the volcano, and some by gas-main and electric wire breaks caused by the building collapses.
Finished watching it last night.
The Midwest is not “barely above sea level” where the fault went through. It gradually slopes upward toward the Rockies. Scottsbluff, Nebraska is at an elevation of 3883 feet, and Oakley, Kansas, near the chalk pyramids, is at 3050 feet. Even further east, the Midwest isn’t barely above sea level- the Quad Cities, for example, are at an elevation of 590 feet. You really would think that someone at the USGS would point this out- the drive into Denver on the 76 goes through fairly flat land, but Denver is the Mile-High City. The Rockies don’t get started in earnest until you get west of Denver.
Once again, the FEMA rescue team in the buried casino didn’t wear any kind of face masks. We learned after 9/11 that collapsing buildings tend to give off all kinds of nasty toxic dust.
I loved how there was a huge concern about the fault going through the nuclear reactor complex. But if the fault goes around the reactors (but still very close to them) the reactors won’t be affected. You’d think that sort of thing would generate an earthquake… Probably some heat, too- lava tends to do that.
If natural gas wells are so easy to blow up, why don’t you hear about more explosions coming from them? For that matter, why would a nuclear plant that would be “the ultimate dirty bomb” if disturbed be located near these hair-trigger natural gas wells?
Who allowed the only two geologists in the world who seem to understand what was going on to go on a dangerous mission to blow up natural gas wells?
Oh, and it’s a great idea to fly helicopters to a location where lava will be meeting water…
I’m sure the President will do very well in Texas in the next election, but people in other states just might not like it that he didn’t seem to care when disasters levelled other cities, but broke down and cried when the fault went through Houston.
I’m sure it was news to people in Alaska and Hawaii that the US was “geographically united” before North America split.
I love it- I can pick apart the science in it, even when I’m really tired and far from my theoretical best 
Gas wells do blow from time to time; they generally don’t do MUCH damage. Of course, there’s no nuclear power plant near Houston. And the location of the theoretical plant is NOT bald prairie. Our urban sprawl in that direction goes into the Piney Woods.
The “Houston” destroyed didn’t look anything like our city. Couldn’t they pull a picture of the skyline off the 'net?
Since the seismic activity was shown in central & eastern South Dakota, why did it affect Mount Rushmore–in the west of the state?
The biggest question–why did so many of us watch this idiotic show with such glee? (Will there be a sequel?)
They don’t, for example, make huge cracks in the earth, or at least I assume they don’t.
They filmed 10.5: Apocalypse in Montreal, IIRC. They didn’t do too much work on trying to make it look realistic for this one or the previous one.
I’m thinking yes- there’s no reason in the Accelerated Plate Motion theory to think the disasters should stop after North America split in two.
Not to mention that since the water is spreading wider than the fault itself, that powerplant should be underwater within hours. Some how I bet that isn’t good for a nuclear plant, either.
I was looking at that from the other angle: we’re in a desperate race against time, who do we send to plant the explosives? Lots of nice young fit military demolition teams who can move at their top speed OR do we saddle one team with a woman and the other with a rather overweight, middle-aged, and clearly not in peak condition guy?
Actually, the whole ending came down to a ‘thud’ IMO. All this build up over how to stop the fault, how awful it will be if the fault reaches the gulf…and what happens when it does? Pretty much nothing. A little steam, and then within a minute the map shows the entire fault filled with water and it starting to widen out across the land.
Now, I would have expected clouds and clouds of super hot steam boiling up, condensing into clouds, pelting rain on the downwind (east, I presume) side of the fault.
Or maybe that’s what the third film will be: 10.5 The Flood!
Not awfully photogenic, but maybe we can fill the Great Lakes so much they rise up and join into a new sea or something.
How much experience with explosives would your average geologist have, anyway? I presume not much, but I don’t actually know.
About the lava: I forgot that this is Movie Lava, not actual lava. You can’t feel heat from Movie Lava unless you fall into it. It doesn’t start fires unless the plot requires them. Movie Lava can be blocked or diverted by concrete road barriers (as shown in Volcano). Movie Lava doesn’t throw off clouds of superheated steam when it contacts water- it hisses a little, and maybe throws up a wee little bit of steam, but that’s it. I think Movie Lava might be the same as the lava in lava lamps.