Swarm of Undersea Quakes In Pacific Northwest Draws Scientists

Scientist are eagerly checking out the sea floor in the Pacific Northwest hoping to see two tectonic plates being pulled apart. Pretty cool to think something so huge as a tectonic plate moving and the force needed is staggering.

SEATTLE - A swarm of undersea earthquakes off the Pacific Northwest coast has scientists from the University of Washington scrambling in hopes of glimpsing of two tectonic plates pulling apart.

The 209-foot RV Thomas G. Thompson, a research ship from the university, headed for the Endeavor Hot Vents over the weekend after seismic equipment had detected nearly 3,800 small quakes as of late Thursday.

Among those on the ship are scientists from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Robert P. Dziak, an oceanographer at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore.
Shake and bake

Very cool. This is something I would like to see myself.


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neic.usgs.gov...

Could it be thats why there were 3 earthquakes in Oregon today?

[edit on 7-3-2005 by dgtempe]

This is also being carried by surfing the apacolypse.

www.surfingtheapocalypse.net...

with a map of the quakes link at the bottom of the article.

and Rense.

www.rense.com...

That being said, the excitement is more about witnessing a growing 'volcano' right off the coast of Vancouver Island. A scientific 'SWAT team' from Seattle is sailing this afternoon for a spot off the coast of Vancouver Island, where they suspect an underwater eruption is under way.?

Something kinda odd I noticed today... part of my morning 'routine' as I sit down to work (besides ATS, of course) is to check out the seismic monitor at IRIS www.iris.edu...

Oddly there have been no quakes >= mag 4 anywhere so far today. I can't remember there being so few. There's usually at least a handful. For example, here are the last few days counts:

Mar 6 => 18
Mar 7 => 9
Mar 8 => 14
Mar 9 => 2

Agreed, it's still early in the day but I still find it odd.



[edit on 10-3-2005 by jtma508]

IM no expert in fact im a noob. But maybe the plates are building energy and if it releases all the energy at once it will be huuuuge? I know how the plates work so im just thinking.