What might really be happening in Washington State?

This does look like something to keep an eye on. Thanks for the links, it is interesting that these quakes are deeper than the usual ones. The theory about the magma pool being trapped is also interesting, it would make sense. The deep tremors just keep on going, and they do not seem be stopping, at least not yet.

In NW Oregon, and I wanted to share that my ears have been ringing much louder than usual for the past three days also, however, the ringing just stopped. Not sure what that means, except now I can sleep better...also had a headache and I never get those anymore, but it is gone now too.

reply to post by PacificBlue


Odd....my headache is better so far this morning, and no ringing yet. For me, the ringing comes and goes. Last two times this happened was the haiti quake and chile quake. Ofcourse, it is probably just a medical condition.

As far as Helen's, she isn't done yet. Here is an updated list: (note they have changed some of the mags)

MAP 1.4 2010/10/23 15:51:21 46.252 -122.058 11.9 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.5 2010/10/23 08:38:00 47.816 -122.034 21.0 4 km ( 2 mi) NNE of Echo Lake, WA
MAP 1.2 2010/10/23 05:28:34 46.253 -122.057 11.5 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.4 2010/10/23 04:26:22 46.251 -122.058 11.8 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.2 2010/10/23 04:24:21 46.259 -122.055 12.5 12 km ( 7 mi) NE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.3 2010/10/23 04:21:01 46.251 -122.058 11.5 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.0 2010/10/23 02:25:27 46.252 -122.057 11.2 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.8 2010/10/23 02:06:24 46.251 -122.058 11.6 11 km ( 7 mi) ENE of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA


USGS


Keep in mind, there haven't been any updates on the volcano itself, so no signs of erruption....BUT, since these are not 'typical', it may be a sign of something new.

Helens has gone silent now...but there were some tremors right at my doorstep:


Tremor map

I'm right in the middle of the Cascade range and Yellowstone, and if they want to erupt, then they have every right to do that. They have been on this planet long before you or any human have. Let me tell you one thing, those of us closest to them may be dead first, but if Yellowstone decides to blow her top, the people left over will be the ones to suffer most. Probably starvation.

I live in WA, right next to the mountains. Haven't felt any quakes. The thing is that those little 1. quakes are meaningless... the world is always moving and seismic activity is always happening, especially around volcanoes, but that doesn't mean we should freak out about 1.something earthquakes.

That said, that doesn't mean there isn't a chance something will happen here. Being right on the ring of fire I wouldn't doubt that this would be a prime place for volcanic/seismic activity. But look at the recent earthquake map -

earthquake.usgs.gov...

There is WAY more stuff happening in other parts of the country, not to mention, no quakes in WA for a week. Nothing out of the ordinary happening here at the moment.

reply to post by spacekc929


Oh, I agree that we live in an incredibly active seismic region. We are surrounded by active volcanos and faults. That is why I pay attention to them! It is a beautiful but also dangerous place.

You are also correct that small magnetude quakes are nothing to write home about, but it is when you get the swarms and especially 2+mag quakes in an active volcano that you look a little closer for other warning signs. That is all.

It is thankfully low-key here right now, especially compared to other parts of the world that are really rocking. I hope mother earth doesn't feel like evening out the playing field!

There really hasn't been anything to talk about here for almost two weeks....but that tends to make me a little nervous.

The weather yesterday and today have been absolutely incredible. Beautiful clear blue skies and 70. I got a tan outside yesterday...in November!!! What is going on? I mean, I would never complain about nice weather, but something just isn't right.

Maybe this is part of the reason I am feeling today like something is off...or building, or getting ready to drop. Maybe it is a just a change in the weaher...but looking at the quake lists for today, I don't know. We are so over-due and there is so much volcanic activity, I am still feeling like we are hovering on a brink ever since the deep tremors.

The fact that the live seismos for the volcanos on the PNSN website that I normally monitor have not been updated for two days doesn't help. Then, I went to an alternate map to check things out, and the one that I found working up at Baker gave me a bit of a shock. Check THIS out. It shows up HERE too, (although a bit messy) at a station miles away.

Here again is the MAP I am using. the stations are MBKE and SBES respectively....I am waiting for someone else to take a look and maybe use some other resources to get a clearer pic.

Anyone have anything to add????

**Groan***....so ofcourse this is what I saw when I opened up the MSN homepage:

Pacific Northwest overdue for big one, sediments show

Here is a link to the article: Article


Basically it is saying the same thing as everyone else: we are overdue

the researchers have confirmed that the the northern portion ruptures violently on the average of once every 480 years. The southern portion along Oregon and California breaks every 230 years on average.

The last rupture was a Sumatra-style, simultaneous unzipping along entire length of the hazardous subduction zone in 1700.

"Certainly it could be another 200 years or it could be tomorrow," Leonard told Discovery News.

Okay, Puterman was once again able to put my mind at ease with a sound recording that clearly indicates it is NOT volcanic noise, but several other types of interference.

He has links to soundfiles, etc. over on the quake thread, for anyone that might be interested! Very cool stuff.

reply to post by westcoast


This is belated, busy week, but-It was very warm earlier this week, one night it got warmer after the sun set, and this was very strange, by 4 am, it was 67 degrees, then it was warm and sunny the next day, in the seventies. Weird. Kind of warm for November and it just came from nowhere, now the weather is cool and back to normal, but I wanted to let you know I noticed this. I was trying to figure out where the warm air came from and why it was here, however, no complaints about nice weather in November, just wondered where it came from.


I did see the seismos, I watch them also, and thanks, there is alot of great info in the quake thread, Puterman seems to really be helpful when it comes to figuring things out.

reply to post by westcoast


From the article

"These marshes have a record of about 14 past earthquakes where the upper levels of the marsh dropped down and were covered by sand (the tsunami deposit)," said Leonard. "The cycle repeats and repeats itself."

If only marshes could talk, I always wonder just how many big earthquakes there have been. The Pacific Northwest is fertile, full of wildlife, and it just seems like there should have been population centers here sooner. The history books tell us the West was wild and undiscovered, but I am wondering if it was also uninhabitable due to volcanoes and/or earthquakes, or other weather events.

Source

It is just a theory of mine, but I wonder if this area was periodically wiped out by disasters, then people left or did not survive, then many years later people returned and had to start all over. However, it could have been due to floods or drought, also, but it just seems like the Western U.S. was kind of empty compared to other places. However, this is just a theory.

So another article about how we are overdue, makes me wonder if scientists have found something new, or if there is just a focus on earthquakes this year.

reply to post by PacificBlue


Interesting thoughts....it would make sense.

I wonder too about the articles/news reports/scientific papers. I really don't know if it is due to any particular new knowledge, or just that information is exchanged so much more easily and quickly now. For example, if the article about the suspected magma chamber were written ten years ago insted in the last year, I am sure I would have never seen it. Hard to say. It SEEMS like there is more in the news, but I just don't think it necessarily means anything.

You know, you should read THIS article that puterman supplied on another thread. I think you'd find it really interesting.

Okay, just a quick post to say that my 'earthquake' dog is acting wierd again. Maybe it's due to the duck hunters nearby....but ya never know.

MAP 2.0 2010/11/07 13:17:15 47.658 -121.881 11.7 2 km ( 1 mi) ENE of Carnation, WA
MAP 2.2 2010/11/07 04:26:40 45.494 -122.684 22.7 5 km ( 3 mi) SW of Portland, OR
MAP 2.3 2010/11/06 21:31:21 46.325 -122.239 8.6 15 km ( 9 mi) NNW of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
MAP 1.7 2010/11/05 19:53:24 46.196 -122.183 1.0 0 km ( 0 mi) SSW of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA


The last one on there isn't too far from me....we'll see.

I've got some info on Oregon. While it may not be washington state, it IS part of what we consider the PNW, and I am convinced all the volcanic activity between the two are connected. SO....check out this latest map on the tremors...

LINK

If you zoom in on those tremors, you will notice that less than 100 miles away is crater lake, you guessed it...a caldera!

The 8 x 10 km wide Crater Lake caldera, one of the most spectacular features of the Cascade Range, was formed about 6850 years ago during one of the world's largest Holocene eruptions. This eruption resulted in the collapse of ancestral Mount Mazama, a complex of overlapping stratovolcanoes and shield volcanoes. This view from the east shows Mount Scott, one of the pre-caldera stratovolcanoes, in the right foreground. A post-caldera cone, Wizard Island, rises above the far lake surface.

Source


Here is a latest quake list:

00/08/16 16:42:05 42.51N 121.63W 19.9 0.0 AD
01/04/28 11:20:50 42.60N 122.38W 5.1 0.6 CC
01/06/07 03:55:52 42.61N 122.32W 18.9 1.4 AC
01/07/28 19:11:29 42.63N 122.32W 5.4 1.1 CC
01/07/31 15:54:27 42.64N 122.32W 4.6 1.3 CC
05/01/15 00:44:35 42.60N 122.25W 22.1 2.1 AD
07/05/13 23:14:19 42.51N 122.12W 14.8 1.1 BB
07/09/22 08:38:17 42.60N 122.41W 10.8 1.7 BC
07/09/27 14:34:19 42.57N 122.42W 1.5 1.3 DD
08/04/21 08:15:45 42.62N 122.40W 5.7 1.7 CC
08/04/26 06:01:35 42.90N 122.16W 18.5 2.0 CC
08/07/23 22:51:09 42.61N 122.40W 14.1 1.9 CC
08/07/23 22:54:12 42.61N 122.40W 13.4 1.9 CC
08/07/23 23:19:26 42.59N 122.40W 4.3 1.6 BD
08/07/24 01:36:54 42.61N 122.41W 18.7 1.6 CC
08/09/03 04:32:08 42.55N 122.44W 8.5 1.2 AC
10/09/30 05:05:02 42.63N 122.40W 11.1 1.6 BC
10/09/30 05:11:12 42.61N 122.40W 12.0 1.6 CC


Source

Notice it had been two years since any activity and in Sept of this year there were two small quakes. That is the WHOLE list....not much on it!

HERE is an interactive map you can look at. The the one I normally watch is on the fritz, but CLMS is the closest, than J04D.

Magnitude 4.2
Date-Time Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 03:53:52 UTC
Tuesday, November 09, 2010 at 07:53:52 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 43.193°N, 126.186°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles)
Region OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
Distances 160 km (100 miles) W of Coos Bay, Oregon
200 km (125 miles) NW of Brookings, Oregon
230 km (140 miles) NW of Crescent City, California
320 km (200 miles) SW of SALEM, Oregon

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 22.1 km (13.7 miles); depth +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles)
Parameters NST= 58, Nph= 62, Dmin=154.7 km, Rmss=0.86 sec, Gp=230°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=7
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)


Event ID usc00008jn


LINK


If the area behaves as before, expect to see a few more in the next day or two.

reply to post by westcoast


Thank you, I the article is interesting. And, I have been trying to read the Volcano Watch and Earthquake Watch threads, as I see that a lot of information is exchanged in those threads.

And, I agree about the fact that maybe it just seems like there is more news about earthquakes and volcanoes, because I have been looking for news articles about those topics. Nowdays, it is much easier to share and obtain information, that is probably why it seems like there is more.

reply to post by westcoast


I am also convinced that the activity in Oregon and Washington is related, and I have been noticing the deep tremors in south Oregon, also noticed some on the border of Oregon and California, wondered why there always seemed to be a cluster on the border, but no earthquakes or anything in the area I am talking about, if I see any, I will post them.

Two quakes at Crater Lake is interesting, as that area has been very quiet. I usually look at PNSN webicorders, but I see they are not working, or they do not look like they usually do?

I have noticed that Butler Butter seems to always be active, compared to the other stations, but since I am still kind of new at this, I was not really sure what that meant, or if what I was seeing was caused by water, or if it was always that way.
This is where I usually go to check for activity.

Volcano Webicorders

Thanks for the link to those stations, I like the interactive map, and those stations do look active, will keep an eye on that.

Saw the article on the Eruptions blog, about new monitoring at Newberry Caldera, maybe this just means there is more funding available, or maybe there is something there to watch more closely. '

Geologists: Newberry Volcano in Central Oregon still threat

Source

This is probably nothing, but one day last summer, my water was really, really hot, much hotter than usual, I could not really get any cold water, first time this has happened. It was not very hot outside that day. I just figured it was because the source of my water may have been hot that day, but it was only for the one day. Probably going off into tinfoil land here, but I did wonder if it was due to magma heating the earth under Mt. Hood, my water comes from a reservoir near there. It has not happened since, and I am sure that there is a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for why it happened, just thought it was kind of odd.

reply to post by PacificBlue


Well, we are thinking along the same lines here it would seem I was just looking at the seismo for crater lake and yes, it appears to not be working all that great. In spite of the malfunction, there still seems to be some other sort of noise or interference at the 1410 UTC mark for today. Hard to tell what it is though, since it isn't working right. Probably nothing.

If you go to this interactive map HERE you can select any number of live seismos from all over the region. (don't know if you've seen this one yet). It has a variety of different kinds of stations and I have a harder time reading them. BUT...you can zero in on Crater lake and see that there are a few others around it. I think that BBO is the one you were looking at...but take a look at KO4D, it appears to show some sort of action around the same 1400 mark,

The reason I started looking at these today was because I took another look at the tremor map. Remember how I commented before that the tremors were only about 100 miles from crater lake? Well, yesterday they were practically right UNDER it. I took a screen shot:





Could mean absolutely nothing. I never watched these tremors before this year, so perhaps it isn't unusuall for them to be in this area....but I think it is still worth paying attention to!!

Magnitude 4.2
Date-Time

* Monday, November 15, 2010 at 12:19:15 UTC
* Monday, November 15, 2010 at 03:19:15 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 47.997°N, 129.348°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region OFF THE COAST OF WASHINGTON
Distances

* 353 km (220 miles) W (265°) from Neah Bay, WA
* 369 km (230 miles) W (273°) from Forks, WA
* 373 km (232 miles) SW (235°) from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada
* 444 km (276 miles) W (265°) from Saanich, British Columbia, Canada
* 478 km (297 miles) WSW (255°) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 33.1 km (20.6 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 36, Nph= 41, Dmin=444.2 km, Rmss=1.45 sec, Gp=284°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=8
Source

* USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)

Link
Event ID usc0000axm

reply to post by PacificBlue


Yup, I noticed that this morning. Funny....the quake from last week was originally listed as a 4.2 at 10 km, but later upgraded to a 4.4.

MAP 4.4 2010/11/10 03:53:48 43.114 -126.724 10.0 186 km (115 mi) WNW of Port Orford, OR (last weeks)


MAP 4.2 2010/11/15 12:19:15 47.997 -129.348 10.0 353 km (219 mi) W of Neah Bay, WA (today)

SOURCE

I suggested before to expect to see some similar quakes in the next couple of days. Okay, so I was off on the time...is has been five days. Seriously though, same mag range, same fault, same depth...they are obviously working together to release the stress. I am actually hoping to see a few more of these, rather than one bigger one!