The earth is rumbling in the North Pacific, and scientists fear something large is coming.
Knewz.com has learned about a series of small earthquakes in the ocean, off the west coast of Washington and British Columbia.
“It’s about 10 times as active as it normally is,” scientist Jesse Hutchinson with the University of Victoria said.
Ocean Networks Canada counted as many as 200 small earthquakes an hour in the North Pacific during the second week of March. It was the strongest activity at one measuring site in 20 years.
But a lot of questions surround the shaking.
For one thing, assuming a volcanic eruption is coming, scientists aren’t sure exactly when it will occur. According to CBC News, it could happen anywhere from several weeks to several years from now.
And “the big one” in this sequence might not really be that big. Hutchinson says the strongest quake in the current wave has measured 4.1 in magnitude.
But there’s another school of thought about the rumblings: that the Cascadia Subduction Zone someday will cause a huge earthquake and a tsunami potentially 100 feet high.
KCPQ-TV in Seattle reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not mention the zone and its danger in a newly-released “online risk index.” That has some Washington state emergency managers concerned.
“The risk is as high as you can get,” Oregon State University paleoseismologist Chris Goldfinger said.
But a FEMA manager considers that risk a longshot.
“We haven’t seen a Cascadia event, since 1700, over 324 years,” Casey Zuzak said. He admitted it’s hard to understand what the actual impact of a major earthquake would be.
Yet the location of a potential large eruption seems set: about 160 miles off Tofino, British Columbia, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. So it would occur a good distance away from land and immediate damage.
Researcher Zoe Krauss with the University of Washington believes the strongest quakes are unlikely to top a magnitude 5.
The rumbling in the Juan de Fuca Ridge on the ocean floor is due to magma erupting. Scientists are watching closely, because it means Earth is creating crust.
“This is a unique opportunity to witness this, especially locally… it happens maybe once or twice in a lifetime,” Hutchinson said.
ONC scientist Martin Scherwath says the magna will come out as “almost fluid, runny rock” with a temperature of more than 1,470 degrees F. But ocean water will cool it so it fizzes.
“The stress is built up to a higher level… [for a] burst of magmatic activity that creates the new ocean floor,” Krauss said.
ONC now has an observatory to fully check the shaking, as opposed to seismometers on the floor. It was installed in 2009.
“Hawaii and Iceland get to see their eruptions and … track them for decades, Krauss said.“This is kind of new for us to be able to see … this in real time.”
Front Page Detectives reported in December on the discovery of a new earthquake fault line in southeast Vancouver Island, which could have an impact on the Seattle area.
The post Volcanic Eruption Imminent? Hundreds of Earthquakes Off West Coast Have Experts Wondering appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: Richard Burkard
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