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For the past decade, a suite of devices have been monitoring Axial’s every action — rumbling, shaking, swelling, tilting — and delivering real-time data via a seafloor cable. It’s “the most well-instrumented submarine volcano on the planet,” says Mark Zumberge, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., who was not involved in the work. But in November, a particular milestone caught Chadwick’s eye: Axial’s surface had ballooned to nearly the same height as it had before its last eruption in 2015 — fortuitously, just months after monitoring began. Ballooning is a sign that magma has accumulated...

An undersea volcano is likely to erupt sometime in 2025 off the coast of Oregon. Such a volcanic eruption could trigger the Cascadia Subduction Mega Fault and produce a mega-thrust earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0. This much advance notice is a big deal, because forecasting eruptions more than hours ahead is “pretty unique,” says geophysicist William Chadwick. But 470 kilometers off the Oregon coast and over a kilometer beneath the waves, a volcano known as Axial Seamount ticks all the boxes that hint at imminent activity, Chadwick and his colleagues reported December 10 at a meeting of the American...

"No tsunami danger presently exists for this area," the National Tsunami Warning Center said Thursday.

Scientists studying six North American volcanoes situated along the continent’s Cascade Range have found active magma underneath both active and dormant volcanic sites. Previous research has suggested that volcanoes lose significant magma volume when they erupt, and any remaining magma dissipates over time. The scientists behind the discovery argue that a better understanding of the conditions underneath volcanoes could answer several enduring questions about their lifecycles, including whether or not all dormant volcanoes contain pools of magma underneath. The researchers also believe a better understanding of these magma-filled chambers could help inform efforts to prepare for potential volcanic eruptions. Even...

A larger Mag 6.4 earthquake tripped offshore of Seattle WA last night. It is the latest in a small swarm of Mag 4, Mag 5, and now Mag 6 earthquakes that began two days in the Cascadia Fault Zone that runs from British Columbia south to Northern California. The Cascadia Fault is regularly hit with Mag 8 (average interval 350 years) and occainsional Mag 9 (interval about 580 years) earthquakes. The last very large killed thousands of native Indians up and down the Washington and Oregon coastline in January 1700, and hundreds more in Japan from its tsunami waves.

Part of the adventure in luring your friends out to the high desert terrain in Northern California, where a valley floor spills from the northern backside of Mount Shasta, is that precious moment when they look at you as though you’ve led them into danger. Having discovered Pluto’s Cave from a map, I was prepared for some sagebrush whacking. What I wasn’t prepared for was that reaching the trailhead required navigating a maze of dusty roads. The cave is considered an easy hike — no serious spelunking experience necessary — and located less than 20 minutes from Interstate 5. Pluto’s...

The man, who provided a full name but chose to remain anonymous, told Cryptozoology News that the encounters have been happening since 2009 in a remote area in the North Cascades. “Sometimes it is just 5 to 10 minutes, other times they stay for hours,” he said. “I leave them food and they visit,” he continued. From apples to carrots, to beef jerky, cookies and candy bars, the ex-law enforcement officer claims the creatures eat it all and leave him alone. The man says he was looking for an old mine in the mountains the first time he came across...