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The Pacific coast of North America could be in danger of suffering some of the largest and most devastating earthquakes in history, recent research suggests, but why? Is a big earthquake predicted soon? Here we tell you what said research points out.
The Cascadia subduction zone and the San Andreas Fault, two of the most feared seismic structures on the west coast of the United States, could have a much closer connection than scientists imagined.
A study published in the journal Geosphere found signs that both faults have recorded ruptures in rapid succession for thousands of years. The finding opens an unsettling question: could a major earthquake in one of these structures influence the other?
The research, led by geologist Chris Goldfinger of Oregon State University, focused on sediment cores obtained from the deep sea of the Cascadia subduction zone, which runs from northern California to southern British Columbia.
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There, scientists found layers called doublets, related to underwater landslides triggered by strong earthquakes. Most notably, this pattern appears in at least 10 seismic cycles recorded over the last 3,100 years.
One of the main clues appeared near the Mendocino Triple Junction, off the coast of northern California, where three highly significant tectonic plates meet: the San Andreas, Cascadia, and Gorda faults.
According to the researchers, when one of these structures releases a huge amount of tension, it could modify the conditions of the others and favor a rupture within minutes or hours.
Scientists call this behavior “partial synchronization” and believe that, in several of the historical episodes considered in the research, the sequence could have begun with Cascadia, located between British Columbia and northern California.
Will there be a big earthquake in these zones? The possibility is especially striking due to the strength that both structures have, the research details. The Cascadia subduction zone is capable of generating earthquakes of up to magnitude 9, such as the great earthquake that occurred in 1700.
For its part, the San Andreas Fault also needs no introduction: devastating earthquakes have occurred in northern California, two of them in 1906 and 1989, with severe consequences for the San Francisco area.
Now, the possibility that these two systems can influence each other adds one more piece to the complicated seismic puzzle of the Pacific Northwest coast.
Another study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences agrees that a future Cascadia megathrust earthquake could suddenly sink some parts of the coast by several meters and expand floodplains by more than 160 kilometers, which would have significant consequences for potential flooding and tsunamis.
Of course, it is worth mentioning that neither of the two studies claims that an earthquake will occur soon or sets a date for a possible rupture, given that seismic movements cannot be predicted and their theories of a major earthquake are based on various investigations and monitoring of tectonic plates throughout history, as well as the relationship they have with each other and the risk each could pose in the event of almost simultaneous activity.
[Publicidad]