The Northwest's Next Big Earthquake Predicted with New Map

Scientists may be able to predict the source of the Northwest's next big earthquake. Researchers have mapped the mantle under the tectonic plate that is colliding with the Pacific Northwest and putting Seattle, Portland and Vancouver at risk of earthquakes and tsunamis.

"This is the first time we've been able to map out the flow of mantle across an entire plate, so as to understand plate tectonics on a grand scale," said Richard Allen, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Our goal is to understand large-scale plate tectonic processes and start to link them all the way down to the smallest scale, to specific earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest."

In this latest study, the researchers developed new underwater and on-shore seismic instruments to measure the plate's interaction with the mantle or asthenosphere, and monitor quake and volcanic activity at the trench off the coast where the Juan de Fuca plate subducts under the North American plate.

"The experiment was unprecedented in that there were 70 seismometers deployed at a time, sitting there for 10 months, which is much bigger than any other ocean-bottom experiment ever done before," said Robert Martin-Short, first author of the new study, in a news release. "We've learned a lot from the deployment of these new instruments, and now have a giant array that we know works well on the seafloor and which we can move somewhere else in the future for a similar experiment."

The findings reveal a bit more about the earthquakes in this region. More specifically, they show that this area is at risk of major earthquakes, especially due to the interaction of a part of the Juan de Fuca plate.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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