Geology of The Pacific Northwest - Seismic Activity

Seismic Activity

The Pacific Northwest is seismically active. The Juan de Fuca Plate is capable of producing megathrust earthquakes of moment magnitude 9: the last such earthquake was the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, which produced a tsunami in Japan, and may have temporarily blocked the Columbia River with the Bonneville Slide. More recently, in 2001, the Nisqually earthquake (magnitude 6.8) struck 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Olympia, Washington, causing some structural damage and panic.

In addition, eleven volcanoes in Canada have had seismic activity since 1975, including: the Silverthrone Caldera, Mount Meager, Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, Mount Garibaldi, Mount Cayley, Castle Rock, The Volcano, Mount Edziza volcanic complex, Hoodoo Mountain, Crow Lagoon and Nazko Cone.

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