I just want to express my condolences to anyone on this forum whom either is from the Seattle/ Olympia / Tacoma, Washington areas, or has loved ones living in that area.

Fortunately, the Geological makeup of the fault line and event areas made the event at the surface one that produced minimal damage and injury. Thank God for that!!

I live in Southern California, where there are events occurring on Blind Thrust Faults, a byproduct of the constant banging together of two Tectonic plates at a Strike-Slip fault zone. These produce violent events with numerous aftershocks [or fore cursors].

I must say that due to the recent activity on the Pacific part of the "Ring Of Fire", it was just a matter of time before something of high magnitude would occur in the United States.

We have had very little, if no, activity here in So. California for quite some time. This makes me very nervous! Now that there has been major movement in both the South and North areas of the Pacific plate, it means almost certain increased pressure on the San Andreas. How far the plate has moved north is unknown by me at this time, but when the Northridge quake occurred, the Pacific plate and North American plate moved a total of 6 feet!

I am very interested in seismic activity, and learn quite a bit from each quake. Out here, the best thing we could ever have would be a series of small events. This would release the trapped energy over time, instead of in one large "Snap".

Since we haven't had any series of small to medium events in a long time, plus the recent large movements in the last 2 years, look forward to Southern California having an event soon.

There was a few events in the Big Bear area last year, plus one in the Desert near Barstow / Baker. These might have been aftershocks to the Landers quake, or they are Precursors to a coming large event.

Sorry to be so blunt, and I am truly sorry to the People of Washington, plus Portland, Oregon for their losses and injuries. Just wanted to throw this stuff out. Would make a good thread, too [Linked Image]


Scott.

Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!