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To: tubebender
I was there for the earthquakes in the fifties and sixties but thought I was safe from them over here. LOL
592 posted on 10/15/2006 3:40:04 PM PDT by fish hawk
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To: fish hawk

Here is a small sampling of the quakes you have missed...

9/1/94 - The Mendocino fault earthquake: 8:15 am, PDT, magnitude 6.9-7.2, located offshore about 90 miles west of Cape Mendocino. This earthquake was a major plate boundary (interplate) event centered along the Mendocino fault, the boundary between the Pacific plate to the south and the Gorda plate to the north. This is a very active fault with frequent small to moderate magnitude earthquakes and occasional large ones and accounts for about 30% of the seismic energy released annually in the North Coast area. The Mendocino fault is vertical and oriented east-west. Motion is almost entirely strike-slip with the Gorda plate side moving to the east relative to the Pacific plate side of the fault. Even though this was the largest magnitude earthquake located within the United States in 1994, it produced no damage due to its far-offshore location. The September 1 earthquake is the largest magnitude earthquake in historic times which can be clearly associated with the Mendocino fault. This earthquake was felt from south of the San Francisco Bay Area to Roseburg Oregon. A 6 inch wave, interpreted as a tsunami, was recorded by the Crescent City tide gauge about 45 minutes after the earthquake.

You can see the distribution of shaking and damage on this Isoseismal map of the Mendocino Fault Earthquake.

4/25/92 - Cape Mendocino earthquake (also called the Petrolia, Ferndale or Lost Coast earthquake: 11:06 am PDT, magnitude 7.1, located onshore near Petrolia at a depth of about 7 miles beneath the earth's surface. This earthquake was located very near the inferred position of the Cascadia subduction zone boundary between the Gorda plate and the North American plate and has been interpreted as the first major historic earthquake on the subduction zone. Motion was along a north-south oriented fault plane dipping gently down to the east. The North American plate was thrust up and over the Gorda plate beneath it. It produced measurable coastal uplift in the vicinity of Cape Mendocino on the order of 4 to 5 feet and a tsunami which was recorded at tide gauges from Port Orford, Oregon to Port San Luis near San Luis Obispo. Maximum recorded wave heights were just under 2 feet in Crescent City.

The mainshock was followed by two magnitude 6.6 aftershocks within 18 hours (4/26, 12:41 am and 4:18 am PDT). The aftershocks were both intraplate Gorda earthquakes located about 15 miles offshore of Cape Mendocino at depths on the order of 13 miles. Both aftershocks were strike slip earthquakes along vertical faults and at least the second exhibited right-lateral slip along a NW oriented fault. The mainshock and large aftershocks caused on the order of $60 million in damages and resulted in a federal disaster declaration.
You can see the distribution of shaking and damage on this Isoseismal map of the Cape Mendocino Earthquake.

9/17/91 - The Honeydew earthquake: 12:29 pm PDT, magnitude 6.0 - 6.2, located onshore about 13 miles SSE of Cape Mendocino at a depth of 7 miles. This earthquake was located in the immediate vicinity of the Mendocino triple junction only about 7 miles SW of the April 92 earthquake. Like the Cape Mendocino earthquake, it involved thrust motion along a NS oriented fault. There is some controversy as to the fault orientation. Surface features, such as the pattern of damage, surface ground cracks and displaced boulders along with the geologic structure in the region suggest a west dipping fault plane. Others, noting its proximity to the Cape Mendocino earthquake and the similarity of the focal mechanisms, have interpreted this earthquake as a foreshock and prefer the east dipping fault plane. Peak Modified Mercalli intensities were VIII in Honeydew, where over 60% of residents reported structural damage.

11/8/80 - Trinidad earthquake: 2:27 am PST, magnitude 7.1, located offshore about 30 miles west of Trinidad at a depth of about 12 miles. This earthquake was located within the Gorda plate and was caused by left-lateral slip along a 60 mile long vertical fault oriented northeast - southwest. A freeway overpass south of Eureka collapsed and regional damages were $1.75 million.




This report was complied by Lori Dengler, Department of Geology, Humboldt State University and is based on the work of many researchers and institutions including McPherson, 1989; Oppenheimer and others, 1993;


603 posted on 10/15/2006 3:54:13 PM PDT by tubebender (Growing old is mandatory...Growing up is optional)
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