In the above picture of the Seattle fault, the brown grassy area in the foreground is a marine terrace that was violently uplifted above sea level by said earthquake c. 1100 years ago.Trees never colonized it (perhaps discouraged by the natives as well as the salt and lack of soil).
see http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/pacnw/actflts/sfz/
(second paragraph under "THE SEATTLE FAULT"
If I'm not mistaken, this is Restoration Point, which George Vancouver named in 1792 and found a very pleasant place for a picnic.
http://www.civilization.ca/aborig/nwca/nwcah05e.html
George was 92 years late for the Big One, which also created some nice picnic areas on the Pacific Coast:
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/earthquakes/bigone/detective.html
This caused considerable mayhem here (there are legends about vanishing villages and beached whales) and also killed people in Japan:
http://www.pnsn.org/HAZARDS/CASCADIA/simple_historic_records.html
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2003AM/finalprogram/abstract_63686.htm
http://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/top10/fault.html
Here's the guy who tracked down the 1700 M9 earthquake:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,142753,00.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-hs.tsunami07jan07,1,4816486.story?coll=bal-health-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
Your tax dollars at work (thank you),
AM