2K earthquakes in 1 day off Canada coast

[WestCoastJustin]

Map here https://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/index-en.php?tpl_r...

[araes]

This setting at Earthquakes USGS also shows the quake group being discussed.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?extent=31.27319...

Major collection from central Alaska near Denali National Park down the peninsula and fairly large group heading up California.

[nazca]

Thanks. A pet peeve of mine is when a geography-focused article doesn't include a map.

[gnabgib]

"Scientists say no cause for concern over imminent rupture; up to 200 small earthquakes per hour recorded"[0]

[0]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/earthquakes-...

[DenverSWE]

This also provided a lot of context but was pretty far down into the article so I'll share here:

> This happens on an approximately 20-year cycle, she said, which puts the area right on schedule: The last time it was this seismically shaky was in 2005.

[canadiantim]

better lots of small ones

[IG_Semmelweiss]

Pet peeve.

I dont know where the exact line actually is, but please stop calling any earth movement below a 5 an "earthquake"

We have an english word for it.

Its a tremor. Lets use it.

An earthquake implies mass destruction.

A tremor at most is a few dogs barking, and a few people getting spooked

[epcoa]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake#Terminology

[BoiledCabbage]

Please don't make up your own definition of a word and then get mad at people for not using it your way.

An Earthquake is a sudden shaking of the earth that causes seismic waves. Nothing about it requires mass destruction.

[atlas_hugged]

I saw some negative numbers which surprised me, so I looked it up.

Found this for anyone else who is also curious:

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-can-earthquake-have-negative-m...

[userbinator]

I correctly guessed that it was due to being a logarithmic scale, having known about dB and the like.

[ramenmeal]

disclaimer: I know nothing about this stuff.

> This area is separate from the subduction zone

150 miles off the coast doesn't sound that far from the subduction zone. Seems hard to believe there wouldn't be some tectonic relationship between the areas.

[icegreentea2]

The phrasing is a little unfortunate, but this area sits on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, which is in one sense the "origin" of the Juan de Fuca plate. If you imagine the overall Pacific Plate and the North American plate, in the area off the coast of Vancouver/Oregon/Washington there's an other mini plate wedges between them called the Juan de Fuca Plate. In this area, it's the Juan de Fuca plate (not the Pacific plate) which is subducting under the North American plate.

The boundary between the Juan de Fuca plate and the Pacific plate is this Juan de Fuca Ridge. This ridge is a site of sea floor spreading - it's not subducting.

So there is a tectontic relationship between the two sites - sea floor spreading at the ridge is one of the factors that drives the subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate. But at the same time, any activity happening at the ridge is not "caused" by the subduction.

[nostrademons]

The point is that subduction zones are convergent plate boundaries (two plates are coming together, and one dives under the other) while rifting zones like this are divergent plate boundaries (two plates are spreading apart). Distance doesn't matter, it's the direction of travel.

[z2h-a6n]

disclaimer: I'm not an expert, but I've been watching some geology lectures focused on the pacific northwest [1] for fun recently.

This is on the Jaun de Fuca Ridge, on the other edge of the Juan de Fuca plate [2] from the Cascadia subduction zone, so it's related in the sense that it's the same tectonic plate, and the plate is very small (as far as I understand, it's a remnant of a plate that has been subducting under North America for a very long time). It is not (in my very-non-expert opinion) necessarily related in a direct sense to what is happening in the subduction zone.

[1]: e.g: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcKUIuDhdLl92gfymRabw... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_Fuca_Plate

[kibwen]

You can't mention the Juan de Fuca ridge without mentioning the claustrophobic 90s sci-fi psychological thriller "Starfish" by Peter Watts, which he graciously hosts in its full text for free on his delightfully Geocities-esque website: https://rifters.com/real/STARFISH.htm

[pixl97]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KSwIcrKEOs

Site of a possible volcanic eruption in the future.

[bovermyer]

Dramatic headline, for what is basically a "hey neat, we can study this process" article.

[nativeit]

I personally would consider the reality of what is taking place to be really quite dramatic, even if it isn’t any threat to humans.

[dylan604]

Maybe it is the Kaiju trying to break free!!

[downrightmike]

In Pacific Rim, 2024 was when that movie took place

[vram22]

Had not heard of the term, so googled it:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiju

[layer8]

Now I’m picturing a Kaiju in https://youtube.com/watch?v=f4Mc-NYPHaQ.

[hollander]

Monster of Lochness relocated

[tmaly]

would be epic

[bhhaskin]

That does seem to be the go to these days.

[bryanlarsen]

Carbon tax money doesn't go to the government. 90% is rebated to consumers and 10% to hospitals & schools.

[__xor_eax_eax]

Possible that this could explain some of the recent unexplained ocean warming?

[0xB31B1B]

The ocean warming is well explained. It’s the result of removing sulfur compounds from ship fuels. This change reduces could cover and increases the flux of solar radiation into the ocean causing heating. This is well agreed upon by scientists and not controversial. Cloud cover reduction is measurable and clearly visible in pre and post 2021 satellite imagery where shipping lanes have cloud trails before the change and do not have cloud trails now.

[organsnyder]

The warming isn't localized—or even more prevalent—in that area.

[sourthyme]

I thought this was explained by excess greenhouse gases.

Ref: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/....

[tejohnso]

We are increasing the energy imbalance in the earth system. A large part of that energy is absorbed by oceans. And at the same time our temperature buffers like the arctic sea ice, are disappearing.

I think we're seeing the same thing that is always seen when a complex system is sufficiently perturbed. Loss of stability, chaotic behaviour, and eventual collapse.