Happy Anniversary
This one will be real short (but I promise a more detailed discussion when my currently overloaded life allows me the time).
The year was 1700 on January 26th. None of us were here, but the earth was, and the reality of plate motions was little different then than it is today.
I have no doubt that there were Native American peoples in the Pacific Northwest at that time, with many of them living along the coast. Unbeknownst to them, the eastward vs. westward collision of the Juan de Fuca and North American plates had once again reached the breaking point, and a cataclysmic rupture was imminent.
The result was a 9+ earthquake along what we now recognize as the Cascadia Subduction Zone — surely a major plate boundary that will rock the Pacific Northwest many times again, with the next rattler in the N.T.D. future. (The reason we know the specific date and time of the last one is that the Japanese — who by then had far too much experience with large waves — were inundated by a tsunami that they couldn’t link to any local earthquake.)
Anyway, another one is surely coming. Along with the devastation along the I-5 corridor wrought by the inevitable shaking, the resulting tsunami along the coast from Eureka to Seattle will be memorable (Pike Place Market is likely toast).
I used to hope that the next rupture would happen while I was still alive so I could be here to help in the response, but now I’m too old to do much good, and my fervent prayer is that it will hold off for at least another ten years or so…
Whatever. If you live in the Pacific Northwest — and especially along the coast — Happy Anniversary (and hang on tight when the music starts).
January 26… Also my first day as a fed editing soil surveys and another day of Trump comeuppance!
Yes, so much to celebrate…
Thanks for the reminder! My personal 1/26 anniversary is much more pleasant though now is tied to a truly epic event! And I share your mixed feelings about witnessing the recurrent subduction. The recent pandemic was enough ‘once in a lifetime’ for me.
No doubt. I think all of us would hate to see a recurrence of that (although we may not have much of a choice in the matter).
I had watched a short video on the anniversary of that seismic event. It described the various steps you referenced and which researchers had taken to determine the exact hour that great earthquake struck. As devastating and wide-ranging as it was, the actual science and investigative work that led to pinpointing the precise hour–centuries after the fact–was to me the real headline.
Excellent comment! I absolutely agree that the reality of the science deserves some positive strokes. Science — in general — has suffered far too much of an undeserved attack in recent years! I think the nay-sayers may be simply afraid of something that is beyond their wit (and too much like work to try and understand).