Underwater volcano active off Oregon coast

A volcano may be erupting off the Oregon coast, scientists say

Three hundred miles off the Pacific Northwest coast, the seafloor has been rumbling.

Over the past five months, there were hundreds of small earthquakes on most days at Axial Seamount.

Then on April 24, there was a spike: nearly 8,000 earthquakes. The seafloor level dropped more than two meters. Temperatures rose.

Scientists believe an underwater volcano is erupting.

An eruption is not a threat to coastal residents, researchers say, because the earthquakes are small, mostly magnitude 1 or 2, and the seafloor movements are relatively gradual, so they won't cause a tsunami.

The volcanic activity has no relationship to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which scientists watch closely for signs of a much larger and more destructive earthquake.

To Bill Chadwick, an Oregon State University geologist, the eruption at Axial Seamount was not a surprise.

He had predicted it would happen this year. He predicted the previous eruption, in 2011, too.

Chadwick hopes the lessons he and his collaborator, Scott Nooner at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, learn from Axial Seamount can eventually be applied to volcanoes on land.

Land volcanoes have thicker crusts and are influenced by large earthquakes and other nearby volcanoes, among other things, so predictions are more difficult, Chadwick said.

"Axial Seamount is a pure example, if you will," he said. "It has relatively simple plumbing."

Chadwick and other scientists watch the signals at Axial Seamount in real-time via a cable laid out on the seafloor. The cable is part of the Ocean Observatories Initiative funded by the National Science Foundation. [...]

I doubt that it has nothing to do with the Cascadia Subduction Zone, since it is practically right on top of it. I presume they mean to say, that the volcano isn't signaling an imminent earthquake. As far as they can tell.

Read the whole thing for embedded links, photos and more.

     

Tsunami Debri? We Ain't Seen nothin' Yet!

But it looks like we're gonna. The map below shows where the debris has spread so far. But if you follow the link below to the interactive version of the map, it has a slider on the bottom, that you can move to see the projected path of debris for the coming years, up to the year 2030.


If it's only gone this far, and yet we are already seeing debris, what's it gonna be like when it REALLY gets here? I guess we'll find out!

West Coast prepares for Japanese tsunami debris

[...] Beach cleanliness is vital to residents in Oregon, the only state whose entire coastline (362 miles) is public. Thousands of people turn out twice a year for beach cleanup events. Others adopt portions of the coastline, cleaning and monitoring them year-round.

So it's no surprise that residents are worried about the tsunami debris that ocean currents could bring ashore, Johnson says.

On Wednesday, Oregon officials confirmed that the dock that washed ashore earlier in the week was from the tsunami. The dock — 7 feet long, 19 feet wide and 66 feet long — is the first official piece of tsunami debris to reach the state.

Japanese officials estimate that 5 million tons of debris washed into the Pacific after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). About 70% of that sank, leaving about 1.5 million tons floating.

Most of the debris still is north of Hawaii, says Nir Barnea, West Coast regional coordinator for NOAA's Marine Debris Program.

Scientists expect more debris to hit the West Coast in coming months and through 2014. [...]

Follow the link to see the interactive map.


Also see:

Japanese Illegal Aliens Exterminated in Oregon
     

Some West Coast Marina's get slammed hard

Oregon Coast tsunami: Brookings, Crescent City, Depoe Bay report serious damage (photos, video)

[...] The Port of Brookings Harbor sustained heavy damage Friday as walls of water flushed through the port area. Port manager Ted Fitzgerald estimated the damage to docks, pilings and port facilities at $10 million. That doesn't include the damage caused to and by boats, at least three of which sank in the basin. Many others were swept out to sea. Many of the boats that remained in the basin have suffered extensive damage when the waters send the 220-ton fishing vessel Haida careening through the marina. The boat's owner was unable to steer it because it was without its engine at the time.

The rising waters created "a rat's nest" of pilings, boats, snapped masts and slabs of dock, Fitzgerald said.

"It was absolutely unstoppable. It happened at least three times, really hard," he said. "We had to keep taking it."

Chris Cantwell, the port's operations supervisor said 70 percent of the port's commercial basin was destroyed. "A third of our sports basin destroyed. We have boats on top of another. Probably half-a-dozen sunk," he told The Oregonian.

Cantwell said the first wall of water came in about 8:05 a.m. Friday. Three waves in all came in before 10 a.m. The third one inflicted the most damage. Cantwell said each of the waves was about 3 feet high.

"By the time the third one came in, things were loosened up," he added. "It was flipping boats on top of one another. We pretty much have a major disaster here."


Brookings City Manager Gary Milliman said about 60 to 85 percent of the commercial dock is destroyed. Seven boats were swept out to sea, while several others sank or sustained severe damage, he said. The body of a man was also discovered on one of the boats, but the Curry County sheriff had told Milliman it is unclear whether the death resulted from the tsunami.

The port was without power as evening fell, with scores of local residents gathered to survey the wreckage.

[...]

Near Coos Bay, surges of water rushed in and out of the port, simulating a high tide and low tide cycle every 15 minutes, said Coast Guard Boatswain's Mate First Class Walter Morey.

"It did that like 12 times in three hours," he said. "It's pretty impressive to see this happen right in front of your eyes."

The water traveled at a fast clip as well, about three times the typical speed, he said.

Pilings separated from the docks, forcing a few boats to break loose of their mooring lines, he said. One dock broke completely away from the pier, with a sailboat attached to it. Coast Guard crews who assisted had to cut the mooring lines before the dock dragged the boat under the water. [...]

Read the whole thing for embedded links, more reports from other locations, more photos and a video.

There are also more links here:

Posts with tag “oregon coast tsunami”

As awful as it is, it's nothing compared to what Japan is going through. A very sobering thought.
     

Unusual Quake Activity off the Oregon Coast

Unusual earthquake swarm detected off Oregon

By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Scientists listening to underwater microphones have detected an unusual swarm of earthquakes off central Oregon, something that often happens before a volcanic eruption - except there are no volcanoes in the area.

Scientists don't know exactly what the earthquakes mean, but they could be the result of molten rock rumbling away from the recognized earthquake faults off Oregon, said Robert Dziak, a geophysicist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Oregon State University.

There have been more than 600 quakes over the past 10 days in a basin 150 miles southwest of Newport. The biggest was magnitude 5.4, and two others were more than magnitude 5.0, OSU reported. [...]

I've not felt any quakes. A ship is being sent out to take water samples. There are some other things that make it unusual... see the rest of the article for more details.