southern whidbey island fault map

This means that a large area feels the shaking, but the intensity is less than a similar shallow earthquake. <>>> Get On The List To Receive Your Daily Dose Of Weird News And Amazing Phenomena. The shaking usually lasts less than a minute and doesnt generally cause a tsunami or have many aftershocks. Additionally, because the continent moves up and over the ocean plate, large amounts of sea water are displaced and cause damaging tsunamis. This uplift creates a very broad wave called a tsunami. These include the: Southern Whidbey Island Fault (SWIF) Seattle Fault Devils Mountain Fault Strawberry Point fault Utsalady Point fault Because they need large earthquakes that move the ocean floor, tsunamis are most commonly made by subduction zone faults like those found off the coasts of the Pacific Northwest, Japan, and Chile. Ready to retrofit? He said he believes dramatic shifts from that quake also may be visible on the western edge of Camano Island. Make an emergency response plan for you and your family. Sherrods son has since completed graduate school in applied geosciences. Others, like the Seattle fault and southern Whidbey Island fault zone, cross under major cities and pose a significant hazard. In addition, the Survey performs seismic safety evaluations of schools. These and other problems led to the search for a scale that was based on the physical processes that happen during an earthquake. A lock () or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Restoring tap water to some homes could take over a year. Doorways do not provide protection from falling or flying objects and you may not be able to remain standing. Seattle Fault Lines. Visit our School Seismic Safety page for more information. Geologists do not yet know how often earthquakes happen on this fault. People are already fighting over toilet paper, just imagine what will it be like when they go shopping for food and the shelves are almost empty. Everything points to one thing, Sherrod said, waving his hand across the inland sea. Additional fault studies by state and federal geologists in the next few years will help determine the frequency and severity of earthquakes along these fault zones. Know what other hazards you might face. America is going to be punished just like the rest of the world. Sometimes Geologists can use the offset land surface to understand how much the fault moved during the earthquake. A pair of scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey first theorized that a fissure between two major blocks of the earths crust might run through this slice of Puget Sound. This scenario was modeled on the part of the SWIF from Woodinville to just west of Whidbey Island. The boundary between the two plates covers a large area and can lock together. District Court: (800) 946-9765, South Whidbey Island Fault (SWIF) M7.4 Earthquake Scenario. For earthquakes that occurred before seismographs were invented, the Mercalli Intensity scale was used to make maps of damage and determine the size and location of an earthquake. Some of these faults are in remote areas. An abrupt rise or decline in sea level would reveal if the fault had triggered a quake before. Even places that are far from active faults are still at risk during a large Cascadia subduction zone earthquake. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Sherrod says practically every place they. During the shaking liquefaction occurred, the sand lost its strength, and the car sunk. The San Andreas fault in California is a good example of a very active strike-slip fault. This is an active fault.. It may not be possible to find water, fuel, or food until services are restored days or even weeks after the event. Power could be out for days. Image from the, Aquatic Lands Habitat Restoration Program, South Lake Washington Restoration Project, Scientific and Technical Support to Aquatic Programs, Washington Geologic Survey Publications Catalog, Washington Geologic Survey Photograph Collection, Wetlands of High Conservation Value Map Viewer, Timber Sale Remaining Volume by Purchaser Reports, Spanish - Brocha, Salal y Otros Productos Forestales, Complete: Baker to Bellingham Non-Motorized Recreation Plan, Community Wildfire Resilience and Preparedness, Utility Wildland Fire Prevention Advisory Committee, Blanchard, Reiter, Walker Valley and Nearby Islands, Teanaway Community Forest Advisory Committee, Teanaway Community Forest Advisory Committee Past Meetings, Faults and Earthquakes in Washington State, Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Seismo Blog, https://buildingfailures.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/tiltedbuilding.jpg, Pacific Geoscience Center of the Natural Resources of Canada. Stop as quickly as safety permits and stay in the vehicle. The years have gone by. Before modern record keeping, Native Americans lived in the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years. For example, a M7 earthquake releases 32 times more energy than a M6 earthquake, and 1,000 times more than a M5 earthquake. Learn how your comment data is processed. The Westport area is now the first in North America to have acommunity vertical evacuation structure, a building strong enough to resist earthquake and tsunami wave forces and give people a platform above the expected wave heights. Often this cracking happens because a soft part of the ground liquefies during the shaking. This northwest-trending fault zone extends more than 65 km across Possession Sound, southern Whidbey Island, Admiralty Inlet into the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca. EVERETT The South Whidbey Island Fault is connected to a system of powerful earthquake fault lines stretching from Victoria, B.C., to Yakima that is capable of unleashing a devastating. On Dec. 15th, a small swarm even hit near Bremerton, a few miles away from downtown. The biggest one is called the South Whidbey Island fault, and it's thought to run from Victoria, B.C., through Woodinville and possibly beyond. View of the Sunset Lake liquefaction failure about three weeks after the earthquake. People who look for evidence of past movement on faults are usually called paleoseismologists (from paleo-ancient and seismologist-one who studies earthquakes). Expect aftershocks. Reverse faults are usually steep and occur in regions of compression. These older faults do not have any evidence for recent activity, but the Earth is always changing. Each type has different kinds of earthquakes. Much of the Southern Whidbey Island fault zone (SWIF), which runs in a north-westward direction from Woodinville to near Port Townsend, Washington, remains mostly . Facades crumble off buildings along Oak Harbors Pioneer Way, and some of the oldest structures in Langley and Coupeville collapse in a roaring cloud of dust. The Port of Coupeville will apply for a grant to fund two electric vehicle charging stations. We work closely with the Washington Emergency Management Division, the Washington Seismic Safety Committee, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that the best-available science is used in the development of hazard mitigation plans. In fact, new faults are found every year during our geologic mapping efforts. Armentrout, J. J. Miller, C. Finn, C. S. Weaver. Photo courtesy of MOHAI (neg. A lot of people are transplants, Forson said. Standing becomes almost impossible as the jolts turn to rolling waves. It forms the northern boundary of the Everett basin and lies along a series of high-amplitude aeromagnetic anomalies that extend from the Cascade Mountains to Vancouver Island, B.C. Avoid stopping near or under buildings, trees, overpasses, or utility wires. A team headed by Joe Dragovich of DNRs Division of Geology and Earth Resources,assisted by geologists from King County, Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, Colorado College, and Washington State University, has been mapping in this area for the past three years. This is similar to how sound is quieter when you move away from a speaker. (Andy Bronson / The Herald). Then the world rattles up and down. Some types of seismic energy (P waves) are similar to sound energy that is released if you break a twig or slide a chair across the floor. Landslide at Salmon Beach was triggered by the 1949 Tacoma earthquake and caused a tsunami. After large earthquakes there are usually many aftershock earthquakes. These faults and earthquakes occur in the continental crust of North America. endobj Third, the South Whidbey Island Fault running from northwest to southeast of the southern tip of the island. That may not sound like much more than the magnitude 6.8 quake of 2001 based on the numbers, but that the Nisqually quake occurred some 30 miles underground. Because they can travel great distances, tsunamis generated from earthquakes across the ocean can still cause damage. Although we cannot predict exactly when the next earthquake will happen, we can predict the general distribution of earthquake sizes. During the shaking liquefaction occurred, the sand lost its strength, and the car sunk. HomePrograms and ServicesGeologyGeologic Hazards. A half dozen people reaching for the last can of soup, someone could lose their life over that. Recent geologic mapping by Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) geologists reveals that this major fault zone extends through the Snoqualmie River valley in the vicinity of Carnation, Fall City, and North Bend. The map also shows potentially active faults from a separate 2014 report (click here to download). We do not encourage people to evacuate in vehicles. Another piece can be seen under the elevated lanes of northbound Interstate 5 in South Seattle not far from the Rainier brewery. A few miles southeast across the white-capped waves of Admiralty Bay, Lake Hancock rises and falls with the tides. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. In the late 1960s, speculators considered the Puget Sound region a frontier for petroleum exploration. endobj Secure .gov websites use HTTPS There are also many faults that have not been studied enough to know if they are active. At a downtown coffee shop, the mugs begin to chatter. The tsunamis can travel far inland and deposit layers of sand and organic material. 1 School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8P 5C2, Canada 2 Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA The southern Whidbey fault is shallow, running right under Snohomish County as opposed to many miles off shore like the Cascadia fault. One model suggests it extends to about 30 miles east of Yakima. Photo courtesy of National Center for Tsunami Research, NOAA. Expect and help to extinguish fires. Some residents may lose housing temporarily or permanently. Many low-lying areas have wet soil or sediment beneath them that could liquefy during earthquakes. This can cause landslides to occur where they wouldnt normally happen. (1999 . The combination of all of these effects is what makes earthquakes such a powerful geologic hazard. Tsunamis are a common result of large earthquakes in Washington. A 2014 map shows what we know about the age of faults in Washington. A community meeting about a shelter at the Harbor Inn may have yielded more questions than answers. The Geologic Information Portal has a Natural Hazards theme that shows active faults and earthquakes. It startled Johnson that such massive faults had gone undetected for so long.

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