Sparks fears of the “Big One.”
A magnitude-6.3 offshore earthquake 6.3 hit 188 miles (302) west of Bandon, Oregon, earlier today at a depth of about 6 miles (10 km), according to the USGS. Bandon is about 100 miles north of the California border.
The quake has sparked fears that the so-called “Big One” could hit any time now.
The “Big One” strikes along the 700-mile-long Juan de Fuca Ridge about every 400 years as one tectonic plate dives beneath another. The area is also known as the Cascadia subduction zone
Previous “Big Ones”, all of which reportedly measured above a magnitude-8, are estimated to have hit in 600BC, 170BC, 400AD, 810AD and 1310AD – which means the next one could be overdue.
The shake followed an intense week of seismic activity in which the so-called Ring of Fire was rocked by 70 quakes in just 48 hours.
(Note: Some of this info is from The Sun, which is not always known for its accuracy. However, I did confirm from the USGS website [link below] that such an earthquake did occur today.)
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7073186/oregon-earthquake-portland-bandon-lates/
Thanks to Vance and Benjamin Napier for these links
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/22/magnitude-6point3-offshore-quake-hits-west-of-oregon-usgs.html
The USGS has since downgraded the quake to a magnitude 6.2.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us1000gf8u#executive
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August 22, 2018 at 11:19PM
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