Red alert for 9.0-magnitude earthquake off Pacific coast as crack detected in 600-mile-long crack in ocean floor

Experts are on high alert amid fears that a crack in the ocean floor could trigger a horrific earthquake.

The hole, located just 50 miles off the coast of the US state of Oregon, spews hot fluid that scientists warn could trigger a magnitude 9 earthquake with the potential to devastate the West Coast.

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A hole off the coast of Oregon could trigger a horrific earthquakeCredit: YouTube

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The hole spits out a fluid that keeps the tectonic plates lubricatedCredit: YouTube

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The crack was first detected from sonar imagesCredit: Scientific Advances

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Without it, experts warn, there is a greater risk of a powerful earthquakeCredit: University of Washington

It lies along a 600-mile-long fault line stretching from California to Canada known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Although the hole was first detected in 2015, scientists now warn that the fluid out is a so-called “mistaken lubricant,” which allows tectonic plates to move so easily.

Therefore, the more liquid there is in the cracks of the rifts, the lower the pressure between the two tectonic plates.

Without it, pressure could build up under the Earth’s crust, leading to an incredibly powerful earthquake.

Scientists believe that the Cascadia Subduction Zone will one day be responsible for the Great Earthquake, an earthquake like this not seen in centuries and that could destroy many cities in the western United States.

A robotic diver first discovered the crater eight years ago after bubbles of methane were seen rising from the ocean floor.

Sonar images showed that the liquid was much warmer than the surrounding seawater.

“They explored in that direction and what they saw was not just methane bubbles, but water coming out of the sea floor like a firehose,” co-author Evan Solomon, a University of Washington oceanography professor who co-authored a report on the area, said in a statement.

“This is something I’ve never seen before and, as far as I know, never been noticed.”

He added, “The loss of fluids from the giant sea front through these slip faults is important because it reduces fluid pressure between sediment particles and thus increases friction between the oceanic and continental plates.”

Comparing the operation to an air hockey table, he continued: “If the fluid pressure is high, it’s like running air, which means there’s less friction and the two boards can slide.

“If the fluid pressure is lower, the two plates will lock — then the pressure can build up.”

Subduction systems – where one tectonic plate slides over another – have been responsible for some of the deadliest earthquakes in recent years, including the 2011 earthquake in Japan that killed about 20,000 people.

Scientists believe that the last strong earthquake in the Cascadia region was in the year 1700.

This quake is believed to be 30 times more powerful than the strongest earthquake expected along the San Andreas fault that runs the length of California.

Solomon said the fluid released from the fault zone is the first known site of its kind to be discovered.

However, they believe that there may be similar holes yet to be discovered.

The crater is named the Pythias Oasis, after an ancient Greek oracle who could “predict” the future by hallucinating on fumes coming out of an underground hot spring.

Deborah Kelly, co-author of the report, said: “The Pythias Oasis provides a rare window into the processes working deep on the sea floor, and its chemistry suggests that this fluid comes from near plate boundaries.

“This indicates that nearby faults regulate fluid pressure and massive slip behavior along the Cascadia central subduction zone.”

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