Scientists are closer to predicting the “biggest”

The Pacific Northwest is at risk of a massive earthquake due to the Cascadia subduction zone. The area is ripe for strong earthquakes, with a particularly strong quake called the “Big One” occurring every few hundred years. It has been more than 300 years since the last great event; Scientists are preparing for the possibility of another appearance in the future. Data from a new study may help the region better prepare in the event of a major earthquake.

What is “big”?

Scientists have long warned of the possibility of a catastrophic, high-magnitude earthquake affecting the Pacific Northwest possibly any day now. “Over time, large earthquakes (magnitude 8 or greater) occur in the region approximately every 230 years, while larger earthquakes (magnitude 9 and greater) occur approximately every 500 years,” Popular Science said. “It has been more than 324 years since the last year.” The danger comes from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a fault line that extends about 600 miles from southern British Columbia to northern California. A subduction zone is where tectonic plates slide past each other.

“We have the potential for earthquakes and tsunamis on the scale of the largest earthquakes we've ever seen on the planet,” Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and a professor at the University of Washington, told NBC News. “The Cascadia appears to be capable of generating a force of 9 or a little smaller or a little larger.” Depending on the size of the hurricane, coastal communities across Oregon and Washington could be severely impacted. However, earthquakes are difficult to predict, even with technological advances.

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Can the locals be prepared?

The good news is that researchers have collected more data than ever before, which could help predict when the big planet will arrive. A study published in the journal Science Advances provides “an unprecedented, detailed view of Cascadia [fault]Erin Wirth, a research geophysicist at the USGS, told Popular Science. Using seismic imaging, which “works in a similar way to radar,” Tobin, also a co-author of the study, told Popular Science. Science, scientists were able to create a map of the subduction zone “The accuracy and that resolution are really unprecedented. It's an amazing data set,” Kellen Wang, a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada and an assistant professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, told NBC News. “It just allows us to do a better job of assessing risk and getting information on building and zoning codes.”

The map of the Cascadia subduction zone showed several interesting findings. First, it confirmed an earlier theory that “smaller horizontal faults cut through both the upper and lower plates, dividing the subduction zone into parts,” and that “in the event of an earthquake, any number of these parts may be involved,” Popular said. Sciences. “The greater the number of slides at once, the larger the affected area will be, and the magnitude of the earthquake and the scale of the disaster are likely to be.” The data also showed that parts of one of the tectonic plates in the subduction zone are smooth and flat, making it primed to cause stronger earthquakes because smoother boundaries make more contact between the plates. “We can conclude that it represents the bulk of the risk of future seismic rupture,” Tobin said.

In fact, the big event could happen tomorrow, but it could also happen centuries in the future, Tobin said. However, new data can play a valuable role in being better prepared for what comes next. “It's like wearing the Coca-Cola bottle glasses, and then you take the glasses off and you have the correct prescription,” Susan Carbut, the paper's lead author and a marine geophysicist and research professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told NBC. News. “We had a fuzzy, low-resolution view before.”

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