Shake, Rattle, Roll

EQHAZARDS.Subductionzone(where).jpg A couple of months ago, we brought you the bad news about a potential earthquake hitting Seattle--namely that if the quake that hits is as big as the 2001 Nisqually quake, the Alaskan Way Viaduct, currently held together with duct tape and happy thoughts, will more than likely crumble beneath the strain, leaving the area surrounding it looking like a scene from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Now, for the worse news--the next quake that hits Seattle could be significantly larger than the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in 2001. UW Professor Kenneth Creager recently presented findings of frequent "tremor swarms" throughout the Puget Sound Region. These groupings of small tremors are sort of like mini-quakes, occurring regularly around the area where the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates meet.

Exactly what this means is still being pieced together, but more frequent geological activity in the Sound is in probably nothing good. It reinforces fears among some researchers that the region may be more susceptible to an eventual megathrust earthquake, which is...well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like--the John Holmes of tectonic events. For example, the 1964 quake that rendered Alaska a barren, lifeless tundra fit only for snowmobile racers and a few particularly hardy breeds of ice troll was just such a megathrust earthquake. So too was the 2004 Indian Ocean quake, which precipitated the tsunamis that ravaged Southeast Asia almost five years ago.

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By Ian Chant in News on December 17, 2009 9:30 AM

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Ian Chant

There is, Regis - unfortunately, it was inserted by Russia and reads simply "No Backsies."

bilco

Man, I'm old enough to remember that Alaska quake.

Before quake turned Alaska into a tundra, it was warm and sunny up there most of the time. Do you think we'd ever have let it into the Union if we knew it would turn into such a wasteland? Kind of a bait-and-switch, it had only been a state for a few years before the quake.