906 Earthquakes Hit California And Nevada As We Closely Watch Seismic Activity At Yellowstone, Mt. Rainier And The San Andreas Fault
Have you noticed that there has been a lot of seismic activity on the west coast recently? According to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center at Caltech, there have been 906 earthquakes in California and Nevada just within the past 7 days. Meanwhile, magma is on the move at Yellowstone, we are being warned that a gigantic volcano off the coast of Oregon could soon erupt, and houses in New England were just “shaking like crazy” after a very strange earthquake struck. We have been witnessing unusual seismic activity all over the globe in recent months, and I fully expect this trend to intensify even more in the days ahead.
The good news is that the vast majority of the earthquakes that are occurring in California and Nevada right now are very small.
But over the past year, there have been far more mid-size earthquakes in the region than normal. Seismologist Lucy Jones says that southern California normally experiences about 5 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater each year, but by August 20th of last year the region had already been hit by 13…
According to Jones, there have been 13 earthquakes in Southern California with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater this year alone.
Compare that to the last 20 years, there have been about five earthquakes per year of 4.0 or greater in Southern California, she added.
And that was before a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck northern California on December 5th…
A magnitude 7 earthquake hit off the coast of northern California on Thursday (Dec. 5).
However, a tsunami warning that had initially been prompted by the earthquake has now been canceled, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System.
The earthquake hit at 10:44 a.m. PST (18:44 UTC) at a depth of about 0.4 mile (0.6 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake occurred off the coast, about 39 miles (63 km) northwest of the city of Petrolia in Humboldt County.
Needless to say, this year is off to a very strong start as well.
Alarmingly, the San Andreas fault was hit by a swarm of 4 notable earthquakes in mid-January…
The four quakes occurred along the San Andreas fault – the volatile boundary between two tectonic plates: the Pacific plate and the North American plate. It runs 800 miles along the coast of California.
Scientists have said that the West Coast is overdue for a massive quake along the San Andreas fault, which would measure magnitude 8 or higher.
I will be watching activity along the San Andreas fault very carefully.
For years, I have been warning that it is just a matter of time before “the Big One” dramatically alters the geography of the California coastline on a permanent basis.
Of course Oregon and Washington have much to be concerned about as well.
Scientists are telling us that there is a “buildup of magma” at a 3,600-foot-tall volcano near the coast of Oregon…
Axial Seamount, a massive underwater volcano located nearly 300 miles off the Oregon coast, is showing signs of an imminent eruption.
This 3,600-foot-tall volcano, which spans 1.25 miles across and sits 4,626 feet beneath the Pacific Ocean’s surface, is currently experiencing significant swelling and rumbling, indicating a buildup of magma.
At this point, researchers believe that this underwater volcano “will erupt by the end of 2025”…
After closely monitoring the volcano’s activity, Oregon State University Research Associate Bill Chadwick predicts that Axial Seamount will erupt by the end of 2025 based on its recent increase in activity.
When this volcano finally erupts, scientists do not expect it to be a threat to those living along the coast.
Hopefully they are right.
But if Mt. Rainier erupts, that will be another matter entirely. The following comes from an article entitled “Mount Rainier monitored closely as scientists keep watch for signs of volcanic activity”…
Experts believe an eruption from Mount Rainier would post a grave threat to millions of people who live in the southern and eastern sections of the Seattle metropolitan area.
“One of the main hazards at Rainier, is it’s less explosive, but it has a lot of glaciers on top of it that can melt and form these really large lahars that can move downstream into areas people live in,” Iezzi said.
Lahars are very destructive volcanic mudflows that can swallow everything in their paths.
I have been sounding the alarm about Mt. Rainier for ages.
Let us hope that the inevitable eruption does not take place this year.
Next door in Idaho, a magnitude 4.2 earthquake rattled the southern portion of the state on Monday morning…
A magnitude 4.2 earthquake was reported in southern Idaho on Monday morning.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was reported just after 9:30 a.m. local time about 16 miles west-northwest of Clayton at a depth of about 7 miles.
Dozens of people across the region reported feeling the earthquake, including people in the Boise, Emmett and Hailey areas.
That was a very unusual earthquake for southern Idaho.
Interestingly, this has occurred at a time when scientists are warning that there has been a “significant movement of magma beneath Yellowstone”…
Recent studies have detected significant movement of magma beneath Yellowstone. This activity, concentrated in the northeastern region of the caldera, marks a shift from the previously monitored western areas. This change has led to a reevaluation of potential eruption zones.
It doesn’t appear that there is any sort of imminent danger at Yellowstone.
But we will be watching.
Over on the east coast, a magnitude 3.8 earthquake really shook up a lot of people on Monday…
A magnitude 3.8 earthquake rattled parts of New England on Monday morning, with shaking felt from Boston to Portland, Maine, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake was centered about 7 miles southeast of York Harbor, Maine, and struck at a depth of about 8 miles, the USGS said. Earlier, the USGS estimated the magnitude was 3.9.
The York County Emergency Management Agency urged residents not to call 911 unless they needed urgent help.
One local resident that was home when this quake struck said that “the house started shaking like crazy”…
“I was upstairs exercising and then all of a sudden the house started shaking like crazy,” Kittery resident Paul Miller said. “Dishes we’re rattling in the cupboards.”
The earthquake located approximately 7 miles southeast of Nubble Lighthouse sent tremors throughout the state.
“Being in the basement out there on Nubble Light, it was pretty dramatic, a lot more shaking going on,” Stephen Brown said.
I know that I covered a lot of material very rapidly in this article.
But I wanted to give you a really good feel for what is going on around the country.
What we are witnessing is not normal, and I fully expect natural disasters to continue to be a major theme throughout the remainder of this year.
