Cascadia earthquake could trigger seismic activity on San Andreas Fault, OSU study suggests

Earth’s Crust Is Tearing Apart off the Pacific Northwest—and That’s Not Necessarily Bad News

Using seismic reflection imaging—essentially an ultrasound of the Earth’s subsurface—and detailed earthquake records, researchers captured a subduction zone in the process of tearing itself apart.

Subducting plate structure and megathrust morphology from deep seismic imaging linked to earthquake rupture segmentation at Cascadia

Earth's crust is tearing apart off the Pacific Northwest—and that's not necessarily bad news

With unprecedented clarity, scientists have directly observed a subduction zone—the collision point where one tectonic plate dives beneath another—actively breaking apart. The discovery, reported in Science Advances, sheds new light on how Earth's surface evolves and raises fresh questions about future earthquake risks in the Pacific Northwest.

Earth is splitting open beneath the Pacific Northwest

For the first time, scientists have seen a subduction zone actively breaking apart beneath the Pacific Northwest. Seismic data show the oceanic plate tearing into fragments, forming microplates in a slow, step-by-step collapse. This process, once only theorized, explains mysterious fossil plates found elsewhere and offers new clues about earthquake risks. The dying subduction zone is revealing Earth’s tectonic life cycle in real time.

'Megathrust' Earthquake Could Trigger San Andreas Fault, Scientists Warn

A newly identified link between two notorious geologic zones suggests a major earthquake at one site could trigger another huge quake at the other, creating a double-whammy of destruction.