Preliminary results from a study related to the subduction of the Juan De Fuca Plate beneath the North American Plate off the coast of Washington and British Columbia indicate that the potential mega-thrust earthquake could strike closer to the Seattle-Tacoma area than previously thought. I believe this project is the same one where I posted their press release about two years ago. According to the article, the average return period for these mega-thrust earthquakes is 400 to 500 years with a range between 300 and 800 and the estimated magnitude of around 9.0. The last mega-thrust earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone was in January of 1700. Previously, scientists predicted the earthquake would be centered just off the coast, they now think it could be 30 miles or more inland, under the Olympic Peninsula to the west of the Seattle-Tacoma area. Source: Physorg.com via Geology.com.
Geologic Hazards
Video: Geotechnical investigation of the March 11, 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, Japan
The NSF funded Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) team has provided a preliminary report and some amazing photos and video of the damage to various regions of Japan affected by the moment magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck on March 11, 2011. Read on to see some amazing photos and video of the liquefaction damage related to the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan. (Photos from Oregon State Flickr)
Project Related
WSDOT SR 519 Geofoam Photos on Flickr
I came across these great photos of geofoam use on the WSDOT SR 519 project which has been in service over a year now. They needed geofoam fill on the east and west bridge approaches […]
Geologic Hazards
YOU’VE JUST GOT TO BE KIDDING: Guilty Geoprofessionals in Italy
In 2009, an unfortunate earthquake near L’Aquila, Italy caused the death of 309 people. The Italian authorities decided that a group of some six expert geoprofessionals were guilty of manslaughter for failing to predict the […]