It isn’t often that you can watch the formation of an island.

In one geologic process, underwater volcanoes produce a new sea-mountain that finally breaks the surface of the waves to form land. Continental drift is the other island forming mechanism that has moved entire continental plates for billions of years. The international space station provides a prime vantage point to view these slow motion processes. An new image was captured by the ISS that shows the border between the USA and Baja California. The Salton Sea is centered with the Gulf of Cortez, Baja California, and the Colorado River appearing in the upper right. Los Angeles, Santa Catalina, and the San Clemente islands are seen on the bottom edge of the remote photograph.

However, what is most impressive in the image is the fracture zone stretching from the top of the Sea of Cortez heading north past Los Angeles---a portion of the famous San Andres Fault. The fault is...