NEWS: Tremor and Slip Event Happening in Vancouver Island.

Since September 13 of this year a tremor-and-slip event has been happening in Vancouver Island. Althought the residents in the area do no feel it, this tremor-and-slip event is equal to a magnitude 6.5 to 6.7 earthquake. But instead of happening in a matter of seconds, it happens in a matter of two weeks. According to seismologist John Cassidy, of the Pacific Geoscience Center, this is the type of event that would trigger the big mega-thrust earthquake.



According to John Cassidy, studying this event will give them a better understanding of where these earthquakes occur, how large they can be, and how the ground will shake, although he states that they will never be able to predict exactly when these events can occur.

Because of this event Vancouver island is moving every 14 months, about a fifth of an inch throughout a two week period.

The scientists are also trying to discern if there is any connection between this event and the indonesian earthquake of December 26th.

Related Links

The Day California Cracks
Budget crises have left the state ill prepared for a big quake



[edit on 15-9-2005 by Muaddib]

nerdling had passed me a link on this last night and I read up on it a bit. This is a bizarre little thing, isn't it? I can't help but think back to the first six months of this year where the Juan de Fuca became extremely active for a time period. And now this, and they are saying it is moving in a reverse motion! It's like a re-wind!

Juan de Fuca does the Electric Slide.

"Compared to the steady year-round stress accumulation, this more rapid stress increase implies that a large subduction earthquake is more likely to happen during the time of an ETS event," the Canadian geologists write. "

Well, we'll see.

[edit on 9-15-2005 by Valhall]

``

here's a couple more items with additional coverage

www.standeyo.com/NEWS/05_Earth_Changes/050914.Vancuver.Isl.html

www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050913_slip.html
(author Roy Britt)

.........................................
related

www.standeyo.com/index1.html
(focuses on the Antepode bulge occurring at the Australian-Indian Tectonic Plate...in the Indian Ocean area opposite of the westcoast & vancouver areas)

-----------
btw, there was an hour of last nights coast-2-coastAM programs,
which focused on the Vancouver Slip
& the Indian Ocean, 3 plates convergence, Bulge & 'Thermal Signature': warnings?

Time will only tell Valhall. I just hope that this event only releases stress, slowly, and is not a precursor to a large earthquake.
(crosses fingers)

Originally posted by Muaddib
Time will only tell Valhall. I just hope that this event only releases stress, slowly, and is not a precursor to a large earthquake.
(crosses fingers)

I don't agree with Muaddib on things political but I do agree with him on this. Considering the response to Katrina, a massive earthquake and tusamni on the west coast would be a major disaster of biblical porportions and personally I love the west coast (from Monterey, caramel and Big Sur north) and would hate to lose it. Now in regards to Los Angeles....!!!

Originally posted by Muaddib
I just hope that this event only releases stress, slowly, and is not a precursor to a large earthquake.
(crosses fingers)

Me too! Seeing as how I live in the Fraser Valley. A nice slow and steady Earth quake is fine by me.

"Seeing as how I live in the Fraser Valley. A nice slow and steady Earth quake is fine by me."

Yeah, but seeing how they expect a 9.0 that will last 2-3 minutes, if you survive you can put on your Sunday clothes and go out and watch the cities burn.

Like these folks from 1907:

PS: The ultimate catastrophy in their minds would be a 9.0 slip-fault rupture and one of those volcanoes exploding at the same time because of the earthquake.

I was actually thinking the slow slip might account for less seismic activity, that it might help relieve stress on the plates, but then I figure that while it may release pressure in some areas it might increase it on others?? I don't know but it sure it damn interesting to watch and follow how these events play out over the long run.

Maybe this will lead to a tsunami on the west coast that would blow the british columbia and california? Or the East Coast with New York and all those cities... This would be worst than in Indonesia... And hello Martial Law! Again you're there!

Good find Mauddib.

Scientists have predicted four major disasters as 'imminent' - geophysical changes like the Indonesian tsunami, and perhaps, this one; radical weather from climate change, like Katrina; widespread fresh water depletion; and the appearance of virulent new disease mutations, like bird flu and community-acquired MRSA, for example.

The response to Katrina establishes legal precedents for government policy to deal with such disasters - and should be evaluated as such.

[edit on 15-9-2005 by soficrow]

Can you imagine a 9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and then Mt Rainier explodes in a Mt St. Helens manner?

It would mean the complete loss of the inhabitants of Seattle and Tacoma.


This would cause maybe a chain reaction .

Then the Yellowstone stratovolcano explodes and then a New Madrid failed rift zone earthquake and the country is destroyed.








[edit on 9/15/2005 by bodebliss]

Man, I hope we don't get a subduction zone quake as a result. I live in Vancouver in a high rise. That wouldn't be terribly fun! Although we apparently get a major subduction zone quake in the 9.0 magnitude every 700 years. Hopefully that cycle stays true.

Deeznutz

Originally posted by worldwatcher
I was actually thinking the slow slip might account for less seismic activity, that it might help relieve stress on the plates, but then I figure that while it may release pressure in some areas it might increase it on others?? I don't know but it sure it damn interesting to watch and follow how these events play out over the long run.

You are right on your second statement WW, I said "I hope", but I know these events are only exponentially increasing the stress in that zone. The longer it takes for these tremor-and-slip events to trigger a mayor earthquake, the bigger the earthquake will be.

Here is a follow up article with more information.

Southern Vancouver Island is sort of sliding towards the west right now. We're moving towards Japan," said John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resource Canada at the Pacific Geoscience Centre near Sidney, B.C. "It's a very small amount. We've moved about three millimetres to the west over the past couple of days."

The event, known as an episodic tremor and slip, is a predictable, cyclical phenomenon that is adding pressure to a zone where the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate are locked, just off Vancouver Island. While the two plates are slipping in some areas, in another they remained locked. That locked zone is where the next megathrust earthquake is expected to come from when it suddenly releases.

Mr. Cassidy said a slip event occurs every 14 months, and when it does, scientists believe the chance of an earthquake the size that triggered the Asia tsunamis increases.

One researcher has likened the event to going up a step on a staircase, at the top of which sits a megathrust earthquake. But nobody knows where the top is or where we are on the staircase.

The geological record on the West Coast has shown that megathrust earthquakes occur roughly once every 500 years. The last one struck on Jan. 26, 1700, which leaves a window of possibility 200 years wide.

Excerpted from.
www.theglobeandmail.com...

Originally posted by DEEZNUTZ
Man, I hope we don't get a subduction zone quake as a result. I live in Vancouver in a high rise. That wouldn't be terribly fun! Although we apparently get a major subduction zone quake in the 9.0 magnitude every 700 years. Hopefully that cycle stays true.

Deeznutz

The cyclic megathrust earthquakes occur more or less every 500 years. Although it is not exactly constant, it could happen anytime from now till 200 years in the future. But with all the events we have seen so far, I don't think it will hit that far in the future.

Tis scary stuff indeed, but near impossible to predict.

Wouldnt that be a kicker though, all these massive natural disasters in a row....

A massive Mt St Helens type eruption would be terrible....

A massive volcanic eruption By Mt. Rainier could be caused by a Landslide on the volcano caused by a 9.0 slip fault earthquake.

Boooooom