Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior.
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18 of Earth's biggest river deltas — including the Nile and Amazon — are sinking faster than global sea levels are risingGiant sunspot that triggered recent solar 'superstorm' shot out nearly 1,000 flares and a secret X-rated explosion, record-breaking study revealsExtraterrestrial LifeEarth's crust hides enough 'gold' hydrogen to power the world for tens of thousands of years, emerging research suggests Deep-sea landslides in the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia subduction zone hold a record of earthquakes dating back 7,500 years, and similar markers may be found in other tectonic plate boundaries worldwide, new research shows.like the 2011 Tohoku magnitude 9.1 earthquake in Japan that triggered a devastating tsunami. The Cascadia subduction zone — which extends from northern California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia — is capable of quakes of at least magnitude 9.0, according to the Exactly how often such enormous quakes hit is an open question, however. To tease out the history of Cascadia quakes, researchers turn toevidence such as sudden land-level changes and turbidites, which are undersea sediment flows that occur off the coast during large quakes.Ruptures from 'silent' earthquakes deep in Earth's crust can heal themselves within hours Parkfield, San Andreas, and the quest for a 'crystal ball' for predicting earthquakes before they happen But turbidites in submarine canyons near the shore can also be caused by storms, currents and regular landslides that have nothing to do with earthquakes. In the new study, published Wednesday in the journaland her colleagues decided to go deeper. They collaborated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to study the continental slope — the steep dropoff from the North American continent to the plains of the deep sea — in southern Cascadia. Focusing on an area off the coast of Crescent City, California, the researchers used autonomous and remotely operated vehicles to get detailed views of the slope and sediment deposits. They also used sediment cores from the region toThe researchers found evidence of at least 10 events in the past 7,500 years, which enabled them to link historical quakes, landslides and resulting turbidites. "We are able to clarify how and where the turbidites are generated," Hill told Live Science."So we know they're coming from landslides that we know are triggered by earthquakes."Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors It's not clear how large a quake has to be to trigger deep-sea turbidites, Hill said, but it probably has to be large enough to cause damage. She and her colleagues also saw signs of seafloor shaking corresponding with the earthquake turbidites, which could additionally raise the risk of tsunamis from this type of quake. 'The difference between alarming and catastrophic': Cascadia megafault has 1 especially deadly section, new map reveals. Turbidites on the continental slope may be even more reliable markers of quakes because they're less influenced by coastal processes such as tides or rainfall, Hill said. "We think they're happening most everywhere along subduction zones," she said,"so we should be able to find these landslide deposits and marine turbidites globally in places where we have never looked for them before." Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. What are the signs that nature is telling us?' Scientists are triggering earthquakes in the Alps to find out what happens before one hits
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