SEATTLE (AP) — The same type of tectonic earthquake that hit Japan — involving the collision of plates that make up the Earth’s crust — could happen in the Northwest.
Similar faults lie in the Cascadia subduction zone.
The head of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, John Vidale, told The Seattle Times the Cascadia fault last ruptured in 1700. Scientists believe it generated at magnitude 9 earthquake and a tsunami that may have been bigger than the one that battered Japan.
Major earthquakes on the Cascadia fault occur every 400 to 500 years.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
