Experts are on high alert for a huge earthquake off the US coast – after analyzing a hole on a fault line

Scientists fear a hole in a 600-mile-long fault line in the Pacific Ocean could trigger a devastating earthquake that would destroy cities along the US Northwest.

The hole spewing hot liquid is located 50 miles off the coast of Oregon, on the border of a dipping fault known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which stretches from northern California into Canada.

This geological feature is capable of unleashing a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest — and the crater might just be the fuel you need.

The leak was first noticed in 2015, but a new analysis led by the University of Washington (UW) suggests that the chemically marked fluid is a ‘flaw lubricant’.

This fluid allows the plates to move smoothly, the researchers said, but without it, “pressure can build up to cause a devastating earthquake.”

The team dubbed the crater, which they describe as a hot spring, the “Oasis of Pythias” after the ancient Greek oracle who “predicted” the help of mind-altering gases rising from the hot springs.

“It also seems hallucinatory to find a geyser of brackish, high-temperature, mineral-rich water gushing from the seafloor 3,280 feet below the surface off the coast of Oregon,” the researchers report in the paper. statement.

A robotic diver discovered the hole in a 2015 survey when sonar images captured bubbles rising from the sea floor.

The data showed that the fluid emitted from the spring was coming from the plate boundary line and appeared warmer than the surrounding area.

“They explored in that direction and what they saw was not just methane bubbles, but water coming out of the sea floor like a fire hose,” co-author Evan Solomon, an associate professor of oceanography at the University of Washington who studies seafloor geology, said in a statement.

“This is something I’ve never seen before and, as far as I know, hasn’t been noticed before.”

Observations later determined that the leaking fluid was 16 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding seawater and was coming directly from the Cascadia megathrust, with temperatures estimated to be 300 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The statement notes that “fluid loss from the marine giant front through strike-slip faults is important, as it reduces fluid pressure between sediment particles and thus increases friction between oceanic and continental plates.”

The Cascadia megathrust spans several major metropolitan areas, including Seattle and Portland, Oregon, but also touches parts of Northern California and Vancouver Island in Canada.

Solomon compared the giant rift zone to an air hockey table

Scientists said this is the first known site of its kind and they fear a massive earthquake

A robotic diver discovered the hole in a 2015 survey when sonar images captured bubbles rising from the sea floor. The data showed that the fluid emitted from the spring was coming from the plate boundary line and appeared warmer than the surrounding area

See also  Mars: Noise detected by NASA's Insight probe may indicate an active planet with volcanic activity

Experts said a large fluid leak off central Oregon could explain why the northern part of the Cascadia subduction zone, off the coast of Washington, is believed to be locked or coupled more strongly than the southern part off the Oregon coast.

“If the fluid pressure is high, it’s like running air, which means there’s less friction and the two plates can slide,” he said.

“If the fluid pressure is lower, the two plates will lock — then the pressure can build up.”

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a region where two tectonic plates collide.

Juan de Fuca, a small oceanic plate, is being pushed under the North American plate above the continental United States.

Subduction systems – where one tectonic plate slides over another – can produce the world’s largest known earthquakes. A good example of this is the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that shook Japan and killed an estimated 20,000 people.

Cascadia is seismically quiet compared to other immersion areas but not completely idle.

Research indicates that the fault was ruptured in a magnitude nine event in the year 1700, nearly 30 times more powerful than the largest predicted San Andreas earthquake.

Solomon said that the fluid released from the fault area is the first known site of its kind.

Observations determined that the leaking fluid was 16 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding seawater and came directly from the Cascadia megathrust.

The hole, which is spewing hot liquid, is located 50 miles off the coast of Oregon.

However, he hypothesized that similar springs could lie nearby but would be difficult to detect from the ocean surface.

A large liquid spill off central Oregon could explain why the northern part of the Cascadia subduction zone, off the coast of Washington, is thought to be locked or coupled more strongly than the southern part off the Oregon coast.

‘The Pythias oasis provides a rare window into the processes working deep on the sea floor, and its chemistry suggests that this fluid comes from near plate boundaries,’ said co-author Deborah Kelly, a professor of oceanography at the University of Washington.

This suggests that nearby defects regulate fluid pressure and bulky slip behavior along the Cascadia central subduction zone.