While we know that certain geological processes can take millions of years and others can happen in an instance, there’s still no definitive answer to what’s going on with the Vasquez Canyon Road in Santa Clarita.

First off, don’t freak out. Sure, we’ve all seen San Andreas (the movie), but even if you might fancy being rescued by The Rock, that’s not going to be the case here since there was no earthquake or any other visible geological phenomenon that took place in the area.

In fact, geologist are still puzzled by what exactly caused the road to go from a regular semi-dusty stretch of pavement to buckling into a wavy patch, with some parts rising as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).

According to Steven Frasher from the LA County Department of Public Works, the cracks are continuing to expand and “hour by hour, the adjacent hillside continues to slip undermining the pavement, actually coming underneath the pavement and uplifting it.”

Fraser also added that “There was no big rainstorm that triggered this. There was no big earthquake that triggered this,” which definitely makes for a cool little mystery.

However, Vincent Devlahovich, a geology professor from the College of the Canyons (Santa Clarita), suspects that the cracks were caused by surrounding rocks becoming saturated with rainwater. While plausible, there is still no official or definitive explanation regarding this phenomenon.

In order to get a better perspective, check out the drone footage and try not to remind yourself that plenty of Sci-fi movies start out with scenes very similar to this.

Story references: iflscience & LAPublicWorks

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