Live Science: An important seismic event imperceptible to humans has begun in the Pacific Northwest as predicted, according to the government agency Geological Survey of Canada.
The chance of a major earthquake is 30 times higher now for a roughly two-week period, but the odds are still remote, scientists say.
The event is called episodic tremor and slip (ETS). It involves a slow movement of the Juan de Fuca and North America tectonic plates along the Cascadia margin of southern British Columbia. Faults associated with the plates have been the sites of major earthquakes — akin to the colossal tsumani-causing quake last December in Indonesia — every 500 years or so, the geologic record shows. The last such temblor in the area struck on Jan. 26 in the year 1700.
The Pacific Northwest is Moving. Did You Feel It?
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