Coastal Quakes, March 11

It’s considered the starting point of two fault lines that run parallel with the Oregon Coast within the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and it rumbled Sunday night, March 9, into Monday morning, March 10. Cape Mendocino, southwest of Eureka, CA, gets it share of minor earthquakes each week, but Sunday night’s 6.9-magnitude quake was a whopper. It was actually located on the Pacific Ocean seafloor 50-miles west of the Humboldt Co. Seat. The main quake was followed by eight aftershock quakes ranging from 2.0 to 4.0-magnitude. Four more aftershocks occurred on Monday, March 10, with the largest recorded at 3.0, 5:13 p.m., 58-miles west of Eureka. The quakes occur just as Oregon’s governor proclaimed the month of March as Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Month. Coastal emergency officials are expecting a major quake and tsunami to occur sometime within the future off the Oregon Coast. The last major-destructive quake occurred Jan. 26, 1700. Historic records show a major quake occurring nearly every 300 years within the Cascadia Subduction Zone.