Perhaps it is a sign of a massive earthquake in the United States

Scientists are preparing for a strong earthquake of great magnitude, which, if it happens, can destroy a huge area. If that were to happen, it would wipe out many cities along the northwest coast of the United States.

A hole in a 960-kilometer fault line in the Pacific Ocean, just 80 kilometers off the Oregon coast, is spewing hot liquid.

This vent is located on the edge of a dipping fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone, aIt extends from Northern California to Canada. Experts fear this area could trigger a magnitude 9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, triggered by a leak known as “rift greasing”.

The release of this fluid is bad news, as it acts as a lubricant that reduces frictional stress between the two mating parts. explained Evan Solomon, professor of oceanography and co-author of the article published in Science advances.

The University of Washington recently analyzed the leak, which was first noted in 2015. Once studied, the researchers admitted that Tension can build up between the plates and trigger a devastating earthquake.

An underwater robot was also able to catch bubbles rising from the sea floor. The data showed that the plate boundary is where the leaking fluid came from and appears to have a higher temperature than the temperature of the surrounding body of water.

The researchers investigated in that direction and what they saw wasn’t just bubbles of methane, but water rising from the seafloor like a fire hose. The rift zone touches major areas of the Pacific Northwest, including Seattle, Portland, and Oregon, as well as parts of northern California and Vancouver Island, Canada..

Suleiman added: If the liquid pressure is high, this means that there is less friction and the two parts they are connected to can slip. If the liquid pressure is lower, the two plates will be locked; This is where tension can build up.

Subsequent observations show that the liquid rising from the sea floor is from 9 degrees Celsius warmer than the surrounding sea water. Calculations indicate that the fluid came directly from the Cascadia megathrust, where temperatures are estimated to be between 150 and 250 degrees Celsius.

What is wrong?

The defect is a fracture in the earth’s crust. Rifts usually connect or form boundaries between the Earth’s tectonic plates. In an active rift, parts of the Earth’s crust move along the rift over time. Moving rocks can cause earthquakes. The inactive bugs had movement along their length, but they no longer moved. The type of movement along the fault depends on the type of fault.

There are different types of faults, such as normal slip, when a rock on one side of the fault moves down relative to the rock on the other side of the fault. There is reverse displacement, where a rock is pushed up relative to the rock on the opposite side. Then there is the slip fault type, in which the movement along the slip fault is horizontal. They do not form cliffs or cliffs because they do not move up or down with respect to each other.

However, they are often more complex than these patterns would suggest. The fault can be a combination of normal slip or reverse slip. Complicating these conditions further, the faults are not just a single organized fracture in rock, but rather multiple fractures caused by similar motions of the Earth’s crust.