EARTH 20 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Minoan Civilization, Santa Barbara Channel, Uniformitarianism
Document Summary
Damage: erased thousands of human-made structures, killed >270,000 people. Magnitude 9+ eqs generated near alaska every several hundred years (recurrence period ~500 years; pulse of sedimentation every time there"s a large earthquake), can spur tsunamis that threaten coast of us northwest. Area of significant slip= size of ca (from very northern part of california to bottom of. Tsunami generated (cascadia subduction zone) january 26, 1700 @ 9pm. Drowned forest along pacific nw (oregon coast, washington state) Tree rings of dead trees match those that began growing right after 1700 (> mass input of salt water killed trees) Tsunami recorded in japan without having preceding eq > too far away to feel, so it was pacific nw eq. Eurasian plate, philippine sea plate and pacific plate subducting into north american plate from all different directions. Daily aftershocks up to m7 for 4+ months after. Most expensive natural disaster in world history (+ billion)
