Great Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest

[dishstaller]

Some of you know about this, most do not. The entire coastline of OR and WA are ticking timebombs. Everyone felt this area was not prone to earthquakes....then one scientist decided to challenge that theory.
I should add that if this topic is of interest, you should buy the book, which is mentioned in this lecture, Full Rip 9.0


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7Qc3bsxjI&pp=ygUqZ3JlYXQgZWFydGhxdWFrZXMgb2YgdGhlIHBhY2lmaWMgbm9ydGh3ZXN0

 

[harshness]

Everyone felt this area was not prone to earthquakes...

That's not true at all. We get earthquakes fairly frequently, and some of them do damage. This one woke me up when my headboard hit the wall:

1993 Scotts Mills earthquake - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Plate tectonics has always been part of the Pacific Northwet experience, but we also have much more volcanic activity than most CONUS locales. More recently, minor seismic activity due to aquifer migration has been registering.

 

[dishstaller]

That's not true at all. We get earthquakes fairly frequently, and some of them do damage. This one woke me up when my headboard hit the wall:

1993 Scotts Mills earthquake - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Plate tectonics has always been part of the Pacific Northwet experience, but we also have much more volcanic activity than most CONUS locales. More recently, minor seismic activity due to aquifer migration has been registering.

You are extremely wrong about this. And I am not talking about 1993. I'm talking about the mid 1980s. When Brian Atwater challenged the notion that the Cascadia region was a "dead zone" he was totally ostracized from the seismic community. Why not read the book I referenced and learn rather than challenge someone who HAS read it. If what was stated in this book was pure bs, then Nick Zentner certainly wouldn't have recommended it AND referenced it.
Most people were still unaware of this fault until 11 yrs ago The New Yorker magazine came out with the article The Really Big One.

The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history.

www.newyorker.com

For the record, Brian is now held up as being a genius in this field....which he truly is.

 

[Bobby]

You are extremely wrong about this. And I am not talking about 1993. I'm talking about the mid 1980s. When Brian Atwater challenged the notion that the Cascadia region was a "dead zone" he was totally ostracized from the seismic community. Why not read the book I referenced and learn rather than challenge someone who HAS read it. If what was stated in this book was pure bs, then Nick Zentner certainly wouldn't have recommended it AND referenced it.
Most people were still unaware of this fault until 11 yrs ago The New Yorker magazine came out with the article The Really Big One.

The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history.

www.newyorker.com

For the record, Brian is now held up as being a genius in this field....which he truly is.

And why challenge someone who actually lives in the area and has first hand knowledge of what is going on underneath them. My daughter has lived in Corvallis, OR for the last 19 years, We have been discussing the Cascadia Subduction Zone for all that time. My family has lived in earthquake country, in California both both north and south, since I was a young boy all the way back to 1952. We are quite knowledgable of what is beneath us.

Just because this may be new to you doesn't mean it is new to us. They even made a TV miniseries, 10.5 in 2004, about what could happen to the entire west coast if that super quake ever happened. We are very aware...

 

[navychop]

And YET……

 

[Foxbat]

Ursula K. LeGuin "The Lathe of Heaven" featured a catastrophic Cascadian earthquake that destroys Portland, Oregon. It came out in 1971.

 

[dishstaller]

And why challenge someone who actually lives in the area and has first hand knowledge of what is going on underneath them. My daughter has lived in Corvallis, OR for the last 19 years, We have been discussing the Cascadia Subduction Zone for all that time. My family has lived in earthquake country, in California both both north and south, since I was a young boy all the way back to 1952. We are quite knowledgable of what is beneath us.

So what? I live in FL and have gone through several hurricanes but that doesn't make me an expert.

You guys are arguing with the experts in the field, who I referenced my post on and even included a link to a dandy video which proves my point. Obviously you didn't read my post very carefully. I clearly stated that Brian Atwater.....who is THE REASON anyone knows about the Cascadia Subduction Zone....did his work in the mid 1980s. You and your daughter would not be having those conversations if not for him and his work. The scientific community at the time was incredibly offended that this "newbie" would dare come along and teach them something they didn't know and even blocked him from participating in a conference. Until you read the book Full Rip 9.0 you are missing a LOT of the pieces of the puzzle....I don't care what is under your feet, it's what is in your mind that counts.

I swear....some of you guys would pick a fight with a pine tree.

 

[dishstaller]

Ursula K. LeGuin "The Lathe of Heaven" featured a catastrophic Cascadian earthquake that destroys Portland, Oregon. It came out in 1971.

I don't even begin to know how to answer that.....except to say NO it doesn't. It does feature Mt Hood becoming active again and causing earthquakes but nothing is mentioned about the Cascadia. I don't understand the reason for making stuff up in order to prove me wrong on this. Are you guys just ticked that I brought up this topic? Is it off-limits? If so, fine. I'll never mention it again unless the Cascadia decides to rip.

Why don't you guys email Chris Goldfinger or Nick Zentner and explain to them about how all of their research is wrong and you guys are right. I'm sure they'd be glad to hear from you.

 

[harshness]

I'm talking about the mid 1980s.

Jump ahead forty years to the mid twenty-teens where things have mostly settled down after Mt. St. Helens.

I participated in an official FEMA tsunami exercise and exposition a few years back, so I'm fairly up on what's going on in terms of the Big One, and rest assured, there are all sorts of scenarios being actively planned for by jurisdictional Emergency Management agencies.

Right now, we're all considerably more concerned about a possible Godzilla El Niño and what it might mean for the 2027 wildfire season.

 

[dishstaller]

, and rest assured, there are all sorts of scenarios being actively planned for by jurisdictional Emergency Management agencies.

I've watched several videos on YT that the emergency services has put up.....especially Seaside, OR...may have been Oceanside. The biggest problem they face is the fact that the bridges folks would have to use to escape the tsunami probably won't be there. I also noticed something they are overlooking. They have a place built for people to flee to that is 50 ft above sea level. What they are overlooking is the same thing the Japanese overlooked and paid the price for in 2011. Their seawall WAS high enough to block that tsunami. Why did it go over then? They failed to take into acct the ground DROPPING. Seems like in that case it dropped by 10 ft so all of a sudden that wall was 10 ft too low. That tsunami shelter they have at 50 ft above sea level won't be 50 ft above sea level. Now how far will the land drop? Who knows. In that initial video I linked to, one of the exercises they did was take the data from the Japan 2011 earthquake and flip it over to the coast of OR...pretty spooky.
One thing to consider when thinking about how much the land could drop is to look at that ghost forest on that beach in OR. The tops of those ancient trees are now showing. The bottom of those trunks is about 9 ft beneath the sand. Now THAT was a huge drop.

 

[harshness]

The biggest problem they face is the fact that the bridges folks would have to use to escape the tsunami probably won't be there.

The idea is typically that there will be some warning coming from one of the many active tsunami warning systems in most coastal towns. Most of the bridges run north and south while you gain elevation by going eastward. In the Oregon Coast Range (mountainous), you can attain elevation fairly quickly.

There are scenarios where safety may only be possible east of the Cascade Range (real mountains), but there are plans for that as well.

This, versus Florida, where more than a little of its 13' of average elevation will be underwater in a few hundred years. The greater landmass is sinking about .5mm/year, but the ocean is currently rising around an inch every three years.

 

[TRG]

 

[dishstaller]

Most of the bridges run north and south while you gain elevation by going eastward. In the Oregon Coast Range (mountainous), you can attain elevation fairly quickly.

I had to look back up the video to see which town they were talking about and I referenced to when it came to bridges.....it was Seaside, OR. There are two narrow bodies of water....they look like rivers but looking on the map, I'm not sure what you would call them. They were concerned that those bridges would be taken out and there would only be a 20 min warning. A buddy of mine went out there from OK and I mentioned he needed to acquaint himself with the tsunami escape routes....just in case. When he got back he told me that frankly he thought I was nuts for even mentioning a tsunami but when he got to Seaside, he said there were signs everywhere showing where to go.

 

[harshness]

it was Seaside, OR.

Seaside is a somewhat unique problem. It is subdivided by the Necanicum Estuary and Neawanna Creek that are oriented south to north.

This is an interactive map showing the danger zones in Oregon and Washington:

NVS : Tsunami Evacuation Zones

NVS provides easy access to observation, forecasts, data, and visualizations.

nvs.nanoos.org

The NANOOS (Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems) website is a deep rabbit hole.

 

[dishstaller]

It is subdivided by the Necanicum Estuary and Neawanna Creek that are oriented south to north.

Thanks.....NOW I know what to call them. Odd for a creek to do what it does there....most in these parts flow directly into the Gulf.

He said it was a fantastic place to visit BTW.

is a deep rabbit hole.

I've been a Dish retailer for 27 years....I like rabbit holes.

 

[harshness]

Odd for a creek to do what it does there....most in these parts flow directly into the Gulf.

That may be more of a situation where the creeks have been "domesticated" to flow that way to foster land development.

 

[dishstaller]

That may be more of a situation where the creeks have been "domesticated" to flow that way to foster land development.

Now that would make sense. The coastline of south FL has a LOT of "domesticated" waterways.