Events in September 2017, including but not limited to the 8.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Mexico in early September, followed by a 7.1 magnitude on the 19th, along with the evacuations happening now where 50,000 are being forced to flee their homes amid fears Mount Agung, in Bali, could erupt at any moment, and a state of emergency that has been declared on the Vanuatu island of Ambae as the Monaro volcano continues to erupt, show that we are seeing a level of earth activity that is increasingly concerning.
Over the past weekend, Mexico was again shaken up by another 6.2 magnitude earthquake and no less than 26 smaller earthquakes have rattled California in a 24 hour period, and 176 earthquakes in a seven day period, causing some serious alarm over the much-talked about "big one" hitting along the 800-mile fissure that runs almost the length of California, called the San Andreas Fault.
"It's a different system," says Matthew Blackett, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography and Natural Hazards at Britain’s Coventry University, "But the system that is causing these quakes in Mexico is by and large similar to what's happening in California.” In both locations, tectonic plates are sliding past one another.
In California, the Pacific plate and the North American plate are both moving northward, but the former is moving faster than the latter, leading to a buildup of tension. Some of this was released in a catastrophic 1906 quake that hit San Francisco. But there’s still thought to be a lot of unresolved pressure along the San Andreas fault in the South of the state. In other words, a quake is probably coming, and it’s going to be a “big one.”
American government projections, says Blackett, place the likely magnitude of that quake somewhere between magnitudes 7 and 8.
The San Andreas Fault is part of that Ring of fire.
SAN ANDREAS, THE RING OF FIRE & HARMONIC TREMORS
The reason so many people keep their eyes on the Ring of Fire, shown in the image above, is because that "ring" produces 90 percent of the world's earthquakes and 81 percent of the world's largest earthquakes, but also holds 452 volcanoes, which is more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes.
Some Californians have been so rattled by the swarm of quakes over the last week, they are stocking up in bulk in preparation of the possibility of the "big one" being closer than imagined before.
In order to understand exactly how much of a disaster it would be for for a mega-quake to hit the San Andreas Fault line, we remind you of what Dr. Lucy Jones, Science Advisor for Risk Reduction at the U.S. Geological Survey, pointed out back in 2013, saying "Imagine America Without Los Angeles," as she warned that California is in no way prepared for a major quake.
According to a USGS study called the “Shakeout Report,” when a high-magnitude earthquake rocks the San Andreas fault, the damage will go far beyond the collapsed buildings and freeways seen in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
For example, LA-area supermarkets now depend on Internet systems for warehousing and shipping food to stores, and the food is stored on the other side of the San Andreas fault.
“With the development of the Internet and the new just-in-time economy, none of them store food on the Los Angeles side of the San Andreas anymore,” Jones said.
“So this is one more place where the development of the complexity of our modern society is creating new vulnerabilities as we face the big earthquakes.”
Fiber-optics could also be cut off when a disastrous earthquake hits the San Andreas fault.
“Two-thirds of the connectivity from Los Angeles to the rest of the world go through fiber-optic cables crossing the San Andreas fault,” Jones explained. “So we expect at the time of the earthquake when the fault moves, we will break these fiber-optic cables and two-thirds of the data capacity between LA and everyone else will disappear,” she said.
Natural gas pipelines also cross the San Andreas fault, so gas for cooking and heating would be in short supply.
That Shakeout Report projected that over 10 million Californians would be affected if San Andreas blows.
It is also noteworthy that in late November 2016, by federal, state and academic researchers found that contrary to prior findings where experts previously believed the San Andreas could only rupture in isolated sections, now they have determined the entire 800-mile-long fault running the length of California where the Pacific and North American plates meet, could actually all "unzip" at once "unleashing a rare, singular catastrophe," as reported by Fox News at the time.
Considering the aforementioned points, when I noticed a couple of SQ notes associated with some articles about EQs and volcanoes over on Steve Quayle's site , in conjunction with an an alert from this morning regarding an earthquake overview, they peaked my interest.
The first was a note after the link tot he 26 EQs in the last 24 hours where Steve recommended "Those of you who understand what's going on should at least go on vacation if you live between Sacramento and Los Angeles, especially if the EQ's turn harmonic."
Being unfamiliar with the term "harmonic" in relation to earthquakes, I shot him off a quick email to ask, and he pointed me to the Earthquake Glossary page for "harmonic tremors," which states the following:
Harmonic tremor describes continuous rhythmic earthquakes that can be detected by seismographs. Harmonic tremors often precede or accompany volcanic eruptions.
Below is a screen shot of the seismogram display from the USGS, recording seismograph stations in real-time and each plot represents 24 hours of data per station.
Compare that activity to the map below of the San Andreas Fault.
Then we have the SQ Alert explaining the concerns of Dutchsinse, who does daily segments regarding both earthquakes with discussions on volcanoes on his YouTube channel, where the "unsettling" series of swarms, specifically those in the Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Ranier areas, which Steve indicates is very important.
TO SUM IT UP:
4 LARGE QUAKES IN THE FORECAST, VARIOUS LOCATIONS.
MT. RAINIER AND ST. HELENS ARE SWARMING.
SOMETHING STRANGE IS GOING ON OFF THE COAST OF ASTORIA, OREGON. THE PTB ARE PULSING THE AREA. DUTCHSINSE SAYS THERE IS A VOLCANO IN THE OCEAN - THE ONE THAT ERUPTED IN PRIOR YEAR AND THE PTB DID NOT LET US KNOW UNTIL THE ERUPTION WAS OVER. IT MAY BE ERUPTING AGAIN.
WEST COAST SLOW SLIP CHANGED TO VERY FEW SPOTS WITHIN THE LAST 24 HOURS. IF THAT PATTERN CARRIES THROUGH THE NEXT 2 DAYS, DUTCH WILL WARN OF A BIG QUAKE - ABOVE 7 AND AT ONE POINT HE SAID ABOVE 7.7 OFF THE COAST. HE SAID IT WILL BE FELT IN SEATTLE AND PROBABLY CA AS WELL. IT WOULD HAVE THE EQUIVALENT PRESSURE OF 9 MONTHS THAT THE SLOW SLIP HAS MOVED.
VANCOUVER BC - A LISTENER NOTIFIED DUTCH OF A 4. QUAKE THERE, HOWEVER THAT IS NOT VERIFIED. IF IT DID NOT HAPPEN, VANCOUVER CAN EXPECT A QUAKE AROUND 5. (OFF THE COAST).
Considering California is considered over due for what they call a "big one," historically speaking, with various experts stating very clearly it is not a matter of "if" it will happen but of "when," perhaps the severity of the issue is best explained by saying the best case scenario is that a mega quake hits California resulting in catastrophic loss of life and infrastructure, in comparison to the alternative worst case scenario, which is the San Andreas "unzipping" in conjunction with the worlds biggest volcanoes coming alive in a "synchronous manner," an issue Quayle will be addressing on Hagmann and Hagmann on Thursday.
9/25/2017 -- Earthquake Update -- Pressure transferring across Pacific -- Large EQ's possible
9/25/2017 -- Large M6.5 (M6.4) Earthquake strikes West Pacific -- Be on watch this week
