It looks like there could be a huge tsunami alert in the NW US following he latest reports from Canada. Check out the new details about the danger that seems to be lurking there.
Tsunami alert in the US
Scientists have discovered a new fault line in the Earth that runs through British Columbia in Canada. This 45-mile-long fracture was previously unknown and could potentially cause a large earthquake in Canada due to its layout.
If such an earthquake were to occur, it could generate a tsunami in the northeastern US, specifically in the area around the Georgia Basin.
This could put over a million Americans in parts of Washington and British Columbia at risk.
A team that included Nick Harrichhausen, a postdoctoral researcher at the Université Grenoble Alpes in France, has made a discovery.
They found that a fault made of two massive rock blocks slipped against each other and caused a major earthquake several thousand years ago.
Harrichhausen stated that this could happen again. Due to the Pacific Northwest’s numerous geological fault lines, he advises people to be prepared for a possible earthquake by keeping several days’ worth of food, water, medicine, and emergency supplies.
Named the XEOLXELEK-Elk Lake Fault (XELF for short), the geological intersection runs diagonally across the Saanich Peninsula north of Victoria from the northwest to the southeast.
The reason for its possible destruction, Harrichhausen said, is that the XELF is what’s known as a ‘dip-slip’ fault, where two blocks of rock move up-and-down art their point of contact, as opposed to side-to-side.
“Because we document dip-slip, which produced vertical offset of the Earth’s surface, and the fact this fault would likely rupture underwater, there is potential an earthquake on this fault would produce a local tsunami in the Georgia Basin,” said Harrichhausen, as noted by the Daily Mail.
