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Shadowed by the Glare of 1906 are Faceless Future Dangers

In the tradition of girding against bygone debacles more than future threats, both due to their searing memory and their ease of study, considerable effort has been directed to reconstructing the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes. The recurrence of these M7 to M8 events may well bring a costly and deadly toll. However, as earthquake cycles alternate between accumulation and release of strain energy, both regions may still be early on their journey to the next earthquake, while considerable and possibly greater danger lies elsewhere.

On the volcanic front, the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens is firmly in our consciousness and monitoring effort, consistent with our what-have-you-done-to-me-lately hazard mitigation attitude. Less clear in our view are Mt. Hood looming over Portland and Mt. Rainier over Seattle.

 

The Cascadia subduction zone, with its overlying landslide-salted and volcano-peppered mountains cradling the metropolises of Seattle, Portland, and Tacoma, offers a counterpoint. This editorial, I admit, is motivated by the daunting chore for the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network of shadow-boxing threats the most recent appearances of which have not been documented by Hearst newspapers and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

John E. Vidale

University of Washington
john.vidale@gmail.com