Seattle Earthquake Fault - Beneath Largest City in the Pacific Northwest

Hello young people, The Seattle Fault running right beneath downtown Seattle. Have you heard about this? We've got a major fault right beneath our biggest city. Issaquah, I-90, downtown Seattle where I'm standing next to the freeway. Underneath Puget Sound, Bainbridge Island and beyond. Kinda bad luck that we found this major fault underneath our biggest city. First suspected in 1965, dated and confirmed in 1992. O.K. so it's a big crack, should we be worried about it? Actually we should. Faults are related to earthquakes adn we have excellent evidence for a magnitude seven or greater earthquake on this fault 1100 years ago. The year 900 A.D. Intense ground shaking and a tsunami generated in Puget Sound, flowing north 30 miles up to Everett, Washington. And are we concerned about the future? We are There is great concern among scientists, engineers and emergency planners for the future of earthquakes on the Seattle Fault. You can best find the fault on Bainbridge Island across the water from downtown Seattle. Take the ferry out to Winslow and you'll find Restoration Point. A raised platform above the water of Puget Sound. George Vancouver back in 1792 was the first guy to notice it. Geologists now know that, that raised platform came up during the earthquake. Twenty one feet of sudden abrupt uplift south of the fault. Not only Restoration Point, but Alki Point came up suddenly during the earthquake. The quake happened in response to crustal compression. Squeezing of the crust due to plate tectonic forces. Northern California is inching northward towards Canada every year and the Northwest here is getting pinched. We're getting squeezed. Those forces continue and that's why we think more earthquakes are coming on these shallow crustal faults. Like the Seattle Fault. And our current estimate is that there is a five percent chance in the next 50 years of a big earthquake on the Seattle Fault. Magnitude 6.5 or higher. We're learning more and more about our faults, dates of prehistoric earthquakes, it's a golden age for research. But I don't mean to bum you out. This is a beautiful city. We just need to be prepared for the next big earthquake in the Puget Sound. Emergency planners from the state of Washington have excellent resources on-line and you and I just need to make sure that we are prepared. The goal, 72 hours of self-sufficiency after the next big earthquake. We can do it! On the Seattle Fault, just beneath Seattle, Washington.

Channel: hugefloods

Views: 42,986

Rating: 4.9128857 out of 5

Keywords: Seattle Fault, The Seattle Fault, Seattle Earthquake, Seattle Earthquakes, Earthquake Facts, Fault Map, ShakeOut, Shake Out, Puget Sound Tsunami, Pacific Northwest, Restoration Point, Earthquakes in Seattle, Seattle Earthquake Fault

Id: iro9Kj5K4Es

Length: 3min 42sec (222 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 05 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

I didn't know about our squeeze! Thanks for the video!

[u/SloppyinSeattle]

I'm glad I discovered this Youtube channel a few weeks ago. Great geo-history.

[u/Undo_button]

5% chance of slip in 50 years of 6.0+? I like those odds.

[u/unixygirl]

I like this guy. Really informative. I wonder if the towers here could withstand a magnitude 6+?