More Than 50 Earthquakes Recorded In 24 Hrs Off Oregon Coast
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The Blanco Fracture Zone between the Gorda Ridge and Juan de Fuca Ridge (Attribution: Juan_de_fuca_ridge-south-map-usgs.png: Lyn Topinka for USGS
derivative work: Jon Chui (talk), PD, Presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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More than 40 earthquakes were recorded in 24 hours off the Oregon coast, but experts say that the cluster of quakes is not cause for alarm, in the video published on Dec 8, 2021, “Earthquake swarm: More than 40 quakes reported off Oregon coast in 24 hours“, below:
To see USGS record of earthquakes, please click HERE.
One of North America’s most active fault lines sprung to life on Tuesday after a swarm of more than 40 earthquakes — ranging from a magnitude 3.5 to 5.8 — rattled off the coast of Oregon, catching the attention and concern of millions in the region. The series of quakes, which began early Tuesday morning, December 7, 2021, and continued into Wednesday, December 8, 2021, were all clustered between 200-250 miles west of the coastal town of Newport, OR, far enough to be mostly undetected on land, but given the area’s seismic history, it is creating quite a buzz.”If you had asked me yesterday where on Earth would be most likely to produce a bunch of magnitude 5.0+ quakes in a single day, this would have been high on my list,” Harold Tobin, Director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, told CNN. The fault line responsible for the quakes is the Blanco Fracture Zone. According to an analysis by Oregon State University, it is more active than the infamous San Andreas Fault in California, having produced more than 1,500 quakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater since the 1970s. What has been most impressive about this week’s quakes is the swarm has included at least 9 tremors reaching a magnitude 5.0 to 5.8, with the majority occurring at a shallow depth of only 10 km. The sheer number of magnitude 5.0 or greater quakes in the region triples the annual average (three 5.0+ quakes per year) since 1980, according to the USGS database. Fortunately, according to the US National Tsunami Warning Center, none of this week’s quakes have triggered a tsunami alert. However, the activity has heightened the concern level for some, as the region is among the most earthquake-prone areas in North America and has already produced one of the largest quakes in the continental United States on January 26, 1700. The quake occurred on the neighboring Cascadia Subduction Zone, a megathrust fault much closer to land, where the Juan de Fuca plate dives underneath the North American Plate. This fault can not only trigger devastating tsunamis but also destructive shaking. Though the epicenter of this week’s swarm of quakes, the Blanco Fracture Zone, is among the most seismically active in North America, it rarely leads to destructive quakes. The fault is some 275 miles west of the Oregon coastline and about 200 miles west of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the largest and most destructive Northwest quakes have historically taken place.”Blanco Fracture zone quakes are strike-slip (lateral motions of the crustal blocks on either side, rather than up-down displacement), so it is very unlikely for them to pose a tsunami threat, even if a bigger quake happened, like a magnitude 7.0 for example,” Tobin told CNN. According to seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones, there have been more than 133 quakes of magnitude 5 or greater on the Blanco Fracture Zone since 1980 and have never been followed by something on land, in the video published on Dec 8, 2021, “A swarm of more than 40 earthquakes in 24 hours is causing a buzz in the“, below:
In the video published on December 7, 2021, “Significant LARGE earthquakes swarm off the coast of Oregon..Increasing in magnitude.. 12/7/2021“, below:
In the video published on Dec 8, 2021, “OREGON EARTHQUAKE EVENT UNDERWAY! Over 50 Earthquakes Off the Coast/Kansas Earthquake“, below:
In the video published on Dec 8, 2021, “More than 50 earthquakes rumble off Oregon coast 24 hours“, below:
Chief Meteorologist Matt Zaffino talks plate tectonics, in the video published on Dec 8, 2021, “Earthquakes swarm off oregon coast is worth watching, but not a sign of the ‘Big One’ to Come“, below:
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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