Undersea quakes send scientists scrambling

[Dover]

Undersea quakes send scientists scrambling

Two tectonic plates appear to be pulling apart
The Associated Press
March 7, 2005

SEATTLE - A swarm of undersea earthquakes off the Pacific Northwest coast has scientists from the University of Washington scrambling in hopes of glimpsing of two tectonic plates pulling apart.

The 209-foot RV Thomas G. Thompson, a research ship from the university, headed for the Endeavor Hot Vents over the weekend after seismic equipment had detected nearly 3,800 small quakes as of late Thursday

..snip..

"These earthquake swarms are associated with sea floor spreading," Dziak said.

"The speculation is it might be a volcanic eruption or a magma event on the ridge," Garry Rogers, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, said Sunday.

"Thousands of earthquakes occurring over a few days, it's a tremendous amount of energy, but it's way offshore," Rogers said. "They are too far to be felt, so as far as we know there is no threat."...cont'd

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7122368/

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Swarm of Undersea Quakes Draws Scientists

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=3&u=/ap/20050308/ap_on_sc/undersea_quakes

[Enquiringkitty]

1. Hmmmm...under water quake AND Mt St Helen's in the same week

People in Washington State might think about moving.

[satya]

3. I left CA just before the Northridge quake, after 15+ years in that area.

Guess sooner or later one is bound to catch up with me.:scared:

[satya]

2. The plates are pulling apart? I thought convergence caused our quakes.

What a treat for the seismologists...