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The western part of Washington State lies above the Cascadia subduction zone, where the Juan de Fuca plate is being subducted beneath the North American plate. The seismicity of this region consists of rare great megathrust earthquakes, like the 1700 Cascadia earthquake and more common earthquakes originating from within the subducting slab.
The Juan de Fuca Channel is a submarine canyon running from the shelf break, off southern Vancouver Island to Juan de Fuca Strait. [2] The canyon is both narrow and deep and has sides that are steep. Over its 6-kilometre (3.7 mi) width at the rim it drops from 200 metres (660 ft) in depth to over 500 metres (1,600 ft) deep at the thalweg .
The 1700 Cascadia earthquake occurred along the Cascadia subduction zone on January 26, 1700, with an estimated moment magnitude of 8.7–9.2. The megathrust earthquake involved the Juan de Fuca plate from mid-Vancouver Island, south along the Pacific Northwest coast as far as northern California.
The United States faces a potential tsunami threat that mirrors the catastrophic Indonesia tsunami of 2004. Just west of the Oregon coast lies the Cascadia subduction zone where the Juan de Fuca Plate is moving under the North American Plate. A major earthquake here could displace enough water to cause a massive wave to impact along the west coast.
Others, such as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, originate about 50 to 60 km (31 to 37 miles) below Puget Sound in the Benioff zone of the subducting Juan de Fuca plate; being so deep their energy is dissipated.
Axial lies where the chain intersects with the Juan de Fuca Ridge, [7] approximately 480 km (298 mi) west of Oregon. It is a product of the Cobb hotspot, but now sits on an ocean spreading center between the Juan de Fuca plate and the Pacific Plate, [8] offset by the Blanco fracture zone to the south and a ridge-built triple junction to the ...
Juan de Fuca (10 June 1536 – 23 July 1602) [1] [2] was a Greek sailor who served Philip II of Spain.He is best known for his claim to have explored the Strait of Anián—now known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca—between Vancouver Island (now part of British Columbia, Canada) and the Olympic Peninsula (northwestern Washington state in the United States).
A map of the Juan de Fuca plate with noted seismic incidents, including the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. The Juan de Fuca plate is bounded on the south by the Blanco fracture zone (running northwest off the coast of Oregon), on the north by the Nootka Fault (running southwest off Nootka Island, near Vancouver Island, British Columbia) and along the west by the Pacific plate (which covers most of ...