Posted on 04/14/2023 5:28:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
* The hole may be leaking 'fault lubricant' that reduces stress on two plates
* The fault could unleash a magnitude-9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest
* READ MORE: Extra layer of plate tectonics could be causing tremors in Pacific
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Scientists fear a hole in a 600-mile-long fault line in the Pacific could trigger a catastrophic earthquake that would decimate cities along the northwestern US.
The hole spewing hot liquid sits 50 miles off the shoreline of Oregon, on the boundary of the dipping fault known as Cascadia Subduction Zone, which spans from Northern California into Canada.
This geological feature is capable of unleashing a magnitude-9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest - and the hole could be the fuel it needs.
The leak was first observed in 2015, but a new analysis led by the University of Washington (UW) suggests the chemically distinct liquid is 'fault lubricant.'
This liquid allows plates to move smoothly, but without it, 'stress can build to create a damaging quake,' researchers said.
The team named the hole, which they describe as a hot spring, 'Pythias Oasis' after the ancient Greek oracle who 'prophesized' with the assistance of the mind-altering gases rising from a hot spring.
'It seems equally hallucinatory to find a spring of low-salinity, high-temperature, mineral-rich water flowing from the seafloor 3,280 feet below the surface off the coast of Oregon,' researchers shared in a statement.
A robotic diver uncovered the hole in a 2015 survey when sonar images captured bubbles rising from the seafloor.
Data showed liquid from the spring was coming from the plate boundary line and appeared warmer than the surrounding area.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
quite a convenient place for China to ‘lose’ an a-bomb...or two
6.9 quake off West Coast Canada past 24 hours. 7.0 in Indonesia.
The world is in motion. We can’t control the climate and we surely can’t control the plates.
FWIW, eruption of underwater volcanoes releases heat into the oceans which in turn raises the global air temperature and creates water vapor (a greenhouse gas).
Warming the oceans also releases dissolved CO2 from the water.
_________
All true things that the globaloney climate changers deny.
The molten core of the Earth is estimated to be 9000°C. That heat has to dissipate somewhere…
Seattle and Portland wiped off the map in a tsunami.
Sounds like an improvement
I wonder if the Libs will blame Trump and MEGA people for the fault?
No, not the case here.
Yes, Yellowstone IS on a 600,000 year schedule - plus or minus 100,000 years. The hype about Yellowstone tripping off is foolish. As you point out, History Channel-National Geographic special pure unadulterated hype and exaggeration. The bloody caldera isn't even going up (filling with magma below) at an appreciable rate - only a few feet per year. Oh yes - In 25,000 - 50,000 years, there will be a peak there, and the probability of eruption will increase.
But not in today's world.
But the (lack of Fear Porn) from the Cascadia Fault - The one offshore of Oregon and Washington (and Vancouver) is very different. Vastly different. For the Cascadia Fault the level of Fear Prom should be very high - but everybody ignores it while focusing on Yellowstone or the San Andreus "Big One". Those get publicity. And money.
It IS a real next-year-possible threat. (A this month threat actually.) It DOES trip off regularly. On a very short, very regular 350 - 380 year interval. We have good specific evidence of Mag 8 earthquakes off the Oregon coast going back now 10-12 cycles. ANd these ARE regular intervals - not like a volcano interval of 10,000 years or 5,000 years. 350 - 380 years.
The last Mag 8 to Mag 9 earthquake was 323 years ago. Exact timing was easy - it destroyed villages in Japan hours later.
We have moved into the “most likely earthquake period” on a standard distribution curve. A curve that has a very small standard deviation.
I'm working on an getting an actual interval for Mag 9+ earthquakes (19 in 9,500 years) when the entire Juan de Fuca plate trips, and for the combination of Mag 8+ and Mag 9+ earthquakes (41 in the same interval.) Don't have those numbers yet.
Perfect place to try that out.
It's almost certain that in some point in the future there will be a tremendous West Coast earthquake and tsunami due to the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
It seems the last great quake in this region occurred on January 26, 1700. A big tsunami subsequently hit Japan, catching people by surprise because no one felt an earthquake preceding it.
Here is a lecture by Nick Zentner from Central Washington University which is informative and entertaining:
Great Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest
Hmm, could totally take out Seattle and Portland. And, then via tsunami, the coast of California.
OK, I’m looking hard but have yet to ID the bad side of this. Like a meteor of death on DC, a win.
Odds are Japan will lose another coastline nuclear reactor. But, if they shut down in time, no loss.
Be my guest...it’s a wonderful phrase! But be warned...you’ll experience an uncontrollable urge to take a shower after using it.
One real problem is, this new discovery is probably not of something that has newly appeared. It's probably very old, as was the polar hole in the ozone. Another real problem is, until an eruption or quake happens, those two specialties don't know when they were going to occur. And Yellowstone is not on a schedule. Cascadia being destroyed? From a superstitious perspective, the degeneracy and lawlessness of the left there is probably the best precursor of an upcoming disaster. :^)
LOL
“The world is in motion. We can’t control the climate and we surely can’t control the plates.”
SSSHHHHH, don’t give them “scientists” ideas or we’ll have man-made earthquakes.
"I've got an 'ole in me pocket."
Cascadia megathrust events have been happening about every 400 to 600 years. The last one was in the evening of January 26, 1700. (They can time it precisely because the Japanese kept meticulous records of tsunamis.)
In Santa Barbara, California there are massive oil leaks from the seabed. Every year going on forever. You can see oil literally oozing out of the cliff faces there onto the beach. The action of the ocean waves turn the rivulets of oil into tar balls. Fun to walk on...
About one million gallons of crude oil per year naturally leak out there.
This site is just one of many on the planet. Microbes eat most of the oil.
Popular site for beach goers.
Photos of the tar http://bubbleology.com/2020/02/14/seep-science-tar-on-the-beach/
The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 allowed an estimated 3 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean. So not much compared to nature.
I read that article and the follow-up by the author regarding the “toast” comment. She (the author) went in more detail over the possible results of a massive quake. Stuff like power out for 30(?) days, water out for 60(?) days, 70%(?) of the bridges not usable.
She said something like: “It isn’t all going to be flattened, but it will be severely damaged - so yeah, I think ‘toast’ covers the above scenario.
When we vacation on the WA coast I always make sure we have a place to stay that is high up. Some day it will happen. Probably not in my lifetime, but...
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