EOSC 114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Juan De Fuca Plate, Megathrust Earthquake, Hypocenter
17 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
Subduction zone earthquakes (3 regions where quakes happen there) Transform, divergent, and convergent boundaries all present in west coast. Juan de fuca plate part of the farallon plate. Continental is more brittle, larger earthquakes more likely than oceanic. Stronger the material, the harder it is to break it, and the more potential energy is being stored. Cascadia subduction zone: 3 regions of earthquakes in a subduction zone. Megathrust locked zone: brittle enough for the rupture to start-possible hypocentre location. Transition zone: too ductile for hypocentre, but fault could rupture this deep once it has started. Maximum 20 km deep here (as deep as 40 km in other subduction zones) Trench: location of plate boundary on the surface and the tsunami starting location. What goes up, comes down: elastic rebound (and also generates a tsunami) Victoria gradually moving closer to penticton: 5 mm/year. Tsunamis wash in a thick layer of sand. Most recent quake at a full rupture: 300 years ago.
