What might really be happening in Washington State?

reply to post by westcoast


Hey westcoast, I hope the feeling passes. I haven't posted since last weekend on ATS, but I was just headed to the Alternative Methods thread, when I saw yours pop up, so I'll just say it here.

In regards to that feeling, it's more intense then ever. Lot's of other things too. Really shaky.

Here is to hoping we are wrong.

Cheers

Westcoast,don´t know if you saw this already,but this new Docu from National Geographic was made very recently,after the Japan Quake. More Info about Cascadia and a little bit about the New Madrid Fault(s).

I am now back at home (was posting via my phone earlier) and I feel a bit better now that I am back here, but still anxious...and some other symptoms that I haven't had since the Japan quake. I have to tell you that I just got done reading a email from my sister. Scary thing is, I wasn't surprised to get it. She told me about a horrible nightmare with me that she had last night. The only other time this has bappened to her was a couple of days before the Indonesia quake/tsunami. Back then, she dreamnt of bodies floating in the ocean around her (she was on a boat), reaching out to her screaming for help and the next night of thousands of bodies washed up on a beach. There is more....it was freaky stuff.

She has had another dream similar in intensity. Parts of It involved children all around her screaming for help, thier skin melting off......I also had a dream last night but all i can remember is that it was about children and I was trying to do something for them but I can't remember what.

I hope these are only dreams and nothing is going to happen. She was thinking nuclear reactors...but I am thinking volcanic perhaps....as part of it.

*sigh*.....hope it is just all the tension out there right now.

So just in case people have the mis-conception that we are prepared here in the Pacific Northwest for a large quake and tsunami, just because of where we live; we are not. Trust me, I am the exception. Most are not even aware of the potential. I know that I have said this before (several times) but in light of the Japan quake, this fact is coming to light. Here is yet another article highlighting this fact:

Tsunami Threat Could Catch Northwest Off Guard

Scientists say it's inevitable that an offshore seismic menace called the Cascadia Subduction Zone will one day unleash a megaquake. The last time it happened was 300 years ago when a magnitude-9 shaker spawned enormous ocean waves that slammed into the West Coast and damaged Japanese fishing villages.

"We're not nearly as well prepared as the Japanese, and clearly they were overwhelmed," said Bill Steele, coordinator of the University of Washington's Seismology Laboratory. "It is a problem."

In Washington state, emergency managers are working with coastal communities to develop local plans for elevated evacuation structures that could do double duty, such as steel-reinforced earthen berms 20 feet high that could support bleachers at a stadium.

"Right now, there's no funding for anything like this, through state and federal funding," said John Schelling of the Washington State Emergency Management. He argues, though, that it's important to develop the plans for the day when money is available.

Most houses here are NOT built to 'earthquake' standards. Both of my kids schools are around 50 yrs old, two story brick buildings. The downtown area of my city is over 100 yrs old and made of bricks...some of them already falling down. The whole place would crumble with anything over a 6.0 close to it. It made it through the 6.8 south of seattle okay, but if it were close to here, or certainly with a 9.0 anywhere near us...well, it would be VERY ugly.

Luckily my house was raised recently before I bought it due to being in a flood plain and it was fitted with newer earthquake 'stuff' that allows the house to 'float' over the cement foundation.


Anyways...I am saying it again. If there were a quake anywhere NEAR the strength of the Japan quake (and we could have a bigger one) the destruction here would just be....unimaginable. Most of Seattle/Everett/Olympia/Tacoma would be levelled. Those are just the bigger towns, the smaller ones all over the place here that have 100+ yr old homes would be wiped out. People are NOT prepared. No one would even know what to do.

reply to post by westcoast


Thank you for that nudge, Westcoast. I have internet friends there who raise (literally) the most beautiful dogs. I've been hesitant to ask them about it but I will send them email tonight.

Western Washington is an amazing place but in any 9.0 level event, almost everything would be gone. I think people here are good and they would band together, but man it would get ugly.

Hey Westcoast and everyone else!

I thought you might find this article really interesting.

By using an ion microprobe, Christoph Helo, a PhD student in McGill's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has now discovered very high concentrations of CO2 in droplets of magma trapped within crystals recovered from volcanic ash deposits on Axial Volcano on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, off the coast of Oregon.

These entrapped droplets represent the state of the magma prior to eruption. As a result, Helo and fellow researchers from McGill, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, have been able to prove that explosive eruptions can indeed occur in deep-sea volcanoes. Their work also shows that the release of CO2 from the deeper mantle to the Earth's atmosphere, at least in certain parts of mid-ocean ridges, is much higher than had previously been imagined.

Eureka Alert Article - Deep Sea Volcanoes Don't Just Produce Lava Flows, They Also Explode!

there was just a small earthquake near mt baker in washington.

around when it happened the picture on my coffee table was shaking. i wouldnt think that a 2.1 would travel that far.

also the depth is at 0km deep. maybe this has not been updated yet

quakes.globalincidentmap.com...

pnsn
Westcoast, find me one webi that's quiet. Have a look at NEWO, that's weird.

Rainier & St H seem grumpy again, but I haven't checked the weather or looked at localising the 'bumps'
www.pnsn.org...

Anyone else in the Northwest notice how many mudslides/avalanches the area has had this season? It seems to me like a large increase over past years.

www.seattlepi.com...
More mudslides: State wants federal rail money for prevention

Mudslides have become increasingly problematic. In just three months, 20 mudslides stopped passenger train service in Washington state. The average is about 10 mudslides for a typical rainy season between October and March, state rail officials say.

6 months = 10 slides
3 months = 20 slides

Are small tremors the cause for the increase?

Also; the frogs are out early and in numbers this year, it should be a good summer..

Sorry I haven't been around for a few days. I am out of state and will be for a couple more days. I will try and look at the webis but I don’t know if I can from my phone. I had noticed the quake near baker ...not your typical spot. Stay dry. I hear its gonna be really wet this week. We might see some more of those mudslides.

Originally posted by CVinWA
Anyone else in the Northwest notice how many mudslides/avalanches the area has had this season? It seems to me like a large increase over past years.

www.seattlepi.com...
More mudslides: State wants federal rail money for prevention

Mudslides have become increasingly problematic. In just three months, 20 mudslides stopped passenger train service in Washington state. The average is about 10 mudslides for a typical rainy season between October and March, state rail officials say.

6 months = 10 slides
3 months = 20 slides

Are small tremors the cause for the increase?

Also; the frogs are out early and in numbers this year, it should be a good summer..

Yeah I noticed. But like I mentioned before these landslides are mainly happening up north in the convergence zone where they see a lot of rainfall. Not to mention these train tracks are next to a hillside, mixed with rain soaked ground and the shaking of the trains... I live about 100+ yards from a set of train tracks, and everytime a train passes it shakes my china cabinet (china hutch puterman)
I noticed the frogs out about 2 weeks ago and it's a pleasing sound, means summer is coming. As far as the federal money for prevention against mud/landslides.... Does Florida ask for federal money against sunburn's?
I am a smartass so don't take my sense of humor negatively

Nothing to report lately since I got back home from Montana....until now.

This quake was just upgraded to a 3.4:

Magnitude 3.4
Date-Time Wednesday, April 06, 2011 at 17:45:00 UTC
Wednesday, April 06, 2011 at 10:45:00 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 46.709°N, 121.662°W
Depth 7.3 km (4.5 miles) set by location program
Region WASHINGTON
Distances 28 km (17 miles) E (101°) from Ashford, WA
41 km (26 miles) E (98°) from Elbe, WA
48 km (30 miles) S (184°) from Greenwater, WA
60 km (38 miles) SSE (155°) from Enumclaw, WA
85 km (53 miles) SE (134°) from Tacoma, WA
114 km (71 miles) SSE (153°) from Seattle, WA

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.3 km (0.2 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 58, Nph= 59, Dmin=12 km, Rmss=0.24 sec, Gp= 86°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=1
Source Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network

Event ID uw04061745


Source

Interesting area. I will look into it some more and see if there is anything else going on.

ETA: Well, it is on the Southern slopes of Rainier....almost in between Rainier and Helens...check out the map HERE

And well we've had these earthquakes at St Helens mag 2.5 mag 2.4 mag 1.8 mag 1.3. All on the North East side of St Helens, The 3.4 you mentioned is on the South South East side of Rainier... Lava Pressure being pushed up around that location?

Edited due to the fact I've had a few beers and don't know which direction I'm looking

reply to post by Isaac (RIP DUSTIN)


Yes, I was thinking that some settling or shifting may be occuring...given the depth.


MAP 1.5 2011/04/08 13:47:37 46.274 -122.221 4.7 9 km ( 5 mi) NNW of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 3.4 2011/04/06 17:45:00 46.709 -121.662 7.3 28 km ( 17 mi) E of Ashford, WA
MAP 1.3 2011/04/06 13:46:40 46.212 -122.088 3.1 7 km ( 4 mi) E of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.8 2011/04/05 21:17:07 46.326 -122.262 17.2 15 km ( 10 mi) NNW of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 2.4 2011/04/05 11:34:26 46.287 -122.200 3.1 10 km ( 6 mi) N of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 2.5 2011/04/04 18:40:32 46.248 -122.047 11.6 12 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA



Even so....good chance it doesn't mean anything, but worth keeping an eye on for sure!

So I had the opportunity to go whale watching in the San Juan Islands this week for the first time in my 30+ years here in Washington State.

It was one of only a handful of sunny days in the past months and it was glorious! What an incredible experience. The beauty of this State just can't be described well enough. In spite of the dangers, this is why we chose to live here. There is just no other place like it!

I had the great luck to see a very large pod of Orcas early in the season...normally they aren't even around yet. I was most definately in camera heaven.

reply to post by westcoast


Oh Wow how exciting. That is something I have always wanted to do.

Okay, so I felt compelled a couple of days ago to put together a map indicating where we have had 6+ quakes along the cascadia subduction zone in recent history. I finally did it today. This info took several hours to wade through, but it paints a compelling picture.

Using USGS info, I went back ten years and made a list of all significant quakes along the West coast, including Alaska and Canada. It wasn't long before the different faults and depths became obvious. Although I think that the quakes in Alaska are tied into our cascade subduction zone it is not techinically considered the same so I am not including it on the map. However, I think it important to note that there have been MANY (nine to be exact) of 6+ and 7+ quakes in that region over the past ten years. My point being that quite a bit of pressure has been rleased, ruptures occuring. A stark comparison to our own region.

I could clearly see what quakes belonged to the San Andreas, the Juan De Fuca and the infamous Cascadia subduction. I threw out the Andreas and De Fuca for obvious reasons and then limited the quakes to only 6+ in mag. I want to add though, that even extending the range down to 4.0, there have only been a handful along the coast North of California in the past decade. Surprising.

SO....this is the map I came up with using those parameters:

I marked the 6+ quakes with red squares, then connected those dots with a red line. I added a few other note-worthy quakes of lower mags (4+) in orange, since I thought it obvious they also originated from the subduction zone, based on location and depth. I connected those dots with yellow to give what I think is a rather complete picture of where the next rupture is going to occur.




I then drew in where I feel the most destruction and motion will occur, using grey lines:
(please keep in mind we are talking a 9+ quake. the grey area is only where the most would occur but the damage will be massive and widespread)


Then I added the most likely subsequent tsunami damage:
(Obviously, this applies to canada too....but I limited the map to the US)





That the subduction zone is due for a mega thrust earthquake is not in question. Most scientist agree that it is a matter of when not if and that the when is most likely to be from now to the next 20 or 30 yrs. The less pressure being released, the more ominous it gets...indicating the 'lock' is increasing, thus the pressure.

I have talked a lot about the deep tremors. I want to post a couple of maps to show you why. Keep in mind that the deep tremors were first discovered back in 2001 and they began studying them a year or two later. It has been determined that it is a slow tremor and slip process, releasing around the equivalent energy of a 7.0 quake each year. It is a good thing, probably. Truth is they don't know for sure, but it makes sense to me that if we aren't having the quakes, the deep tremors are a good alternative. What concerns me is that they were chugging along up until the Japan quake. Since then, there have been hardly ANY in comparison. We also haven't seen any even moderate quakes in response. I don't like that.

Here is a map I did back on 3/17 showing how many tremors there had been in just the first three months of 2011. It clearly shows the subduction zone:





In contrast, here is one I just did showing post-quake until now. Note that almost half of those happened the three days following the Japan quake. There haven been almost none since then:



SOURCE
Also note that most of them have been on the southern end of the subduction zone. I don't like that either. Mother nature likes balance....which is why the silence here since the Japan quake has me on edge. It think it means one of two things:

A. The Japan quake relieved the pressure from the casadia subduction zone - or-
B. The Japan quake increased the pressure, thereby locking it up even more

Based on history, I have to go with option B, although I don't want to.


Look at the map. There has been only ONE quake in Washington that was greater than 6.0 in over a decade.

NONE in or near Oregon in over a decade.

Something has got to give.

Bumping this up so my friends are sure to see it. I am tempted to make it its own thread, with some more information thrown in but just don't have the time for it right now. I think it is important though.

Originally posted by westcoast
Bumping this up so my friends are sure to see it. I am tempted to make it its own thread, with some more information thrown in but just don't have the time for it right now. I think it is important though.

I agree dude, I have noticed the same thing (no earthquakes at all pretty much in Washington State). I'm guessing that no quakes means the plates are locked. All of the data would seem to indicate this.

www.cbc.ca...