3 ms·
Where in northern California? If you're not near the coast, you probably will never experience an earthquake. As the recent quake in Massachusetts shows, howe
by 01100011 6y ago
Where in northern California? If you're not near the coast, you probably will never experience an earthquake. As the recent quake in Massachusetts shows, however, earthquakes can happen almost anywhere.
Also, fun fact, the chances of a 'Cascadia megaquake', or a full rip of the Cascadia subduction zone, is about 1 in 6 over the next 50 years. That will produce a 9.0 extending from the Mendocino triple junction off the coast of Cape Mendocino, CA to Canada. It's the same type of earthquake that destroyed Fukushima. You'll have to be pretty far inland to avoid the shaking from that.
- dekhn 6y agoI find many times that scientists report ominious sounding things like this, but the underlying data doesn't support it. I think they're just prone to hyperbole and overselling their results because it's what brings in funding.
- 01100011 6y agoYou should look into the supporting data before making comments like this. The evidence for the timeline of past Cascadia zone megaquakes is actually quite solid. We can even corroborate the records from North American samples with samples from Japan when the resulting tsunamis caused damage there. This is a good introduction if you want to know more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7Qc3bsxjI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ7Qc3bsxjI
- flubert 6y agoFor anyone interested in the underlying data, I believe this is the most quoted piece by the popularizers: https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1661F https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/pp1661F ...that has the full-fault events at ~500 year intervals, and the partial-fault events at ~240 year intervals. Last full fault event was January 26th, 1700.