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Major Earthquake Shakes Underwater Volcano Off West Coast, Experts Revise Eruption Timeline
- MORE: A huge underwater volcano could erupt at any time, releasing millions of tons of lava
A major earthquake rattled the OregonA coastline near a highly active volcano in the Pacific Northwest, according to experts, which could erupt at any time.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) documented a 4.2 magnitude earthquake located less than 185 miles from the coastal town of Barview, Oregon, at 3:38 am Eastern Time on Wednesday morning.
However, the earthquake's origin point was also approximately 200 miles away from the Axial Seamount, a volcano that last erupted in 2015 and has been gradually increasing in activity towardsanother huge explosion this year.
Wednesday's earthquake was the third significant geological occurrencein the region within two weeks. However, researcher and geophysics expert Bill Chadwick from Oregon State University stated that this tremor will not be the critical factor that triggers the volcano.
Instead of the hundreds of smaller tremors being detected directly beneath the volcano, Chadwick informed the Daily Mail that these significant earthquakes were associated with the nearby Blanco Fracture Zone, where tectonic plates move alongside one another, leading to seismic activity.
Chadwick and his group have been observing the Seamount throughout the year, as the frequency of these small tremors near the volcano's entrance has gradually risen, indicating thatan eruption is close.
They had previously cautioned that an eruption along the US West Coast could occur at any moment, but recent seismic information from the Axial Seamount has prompted Chadwick to revise, and possibly postpone, the estimated time until an eruption.
"There's still a possibility it might erupt by the end of the year. We aren't exactly sure when it will occur, but there's no sign of it happening soon as the daily earthquake count remains fairly low," Chadwick stated.
The scientist stated that researchers are expected to adjust their eruption forecast to late 2026 in the coming weeks, as the ground inflation beneath the volcano has not yet attained the levels observed prior to the previous eruption a decade ago.
Researchers had earlier predicted that the Axial Seamount would erupt once it expanded by more than 12 inches beyond the level it reached in 2015.
At present, data from the Pacific Ocean indicates that the volcano's inflation rate is approximately six inches annually, suggesting it may take another 12 months for the Seamounts to reach a comparable stage as in earlier eruptions.
Chadwick and Scott Nooner, affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, have observed that seismic activity and swelling indicate that molten rock is rising through fissures in the volcano.
As molten rock ascends from beneath the Earth's surface, it expands the Seamount similar to a balloon, putting pressure on the nearby rock and causing numerous small tremors.
Starting from 2024, scientists have maintained the forecast that the ocean floor near the Axial Seamount's crater would elevate approximately one foot more than it did in the 2015 eruption.
That is also the same rate of inflation researchers observed four years following the volcano's eruption in 2011.
Although the Seamount had as many as 2,000 earthquakes in a single day in August, it has not maintained that level as we move into fall, and the latest data indicate the volcano's swelling is only roughly half of what scientists had predicted.
"The inflation limit is merely an 'educated guess' regarding when it could resurface, but there's nothing extraordinary about it," Chadwick mentioned.
"The trend may shift. At the present inflation rate, we won't reach that higher inflation level until mid to late 2026," Chadwick and Noonerincluded in a blog post on October 27th.
As per the most recent earthquake charts from the University of Washington's William Wilcock and Maochuan Zhang, seismic activity near the volcano has dropped to its lowest point since July.
During an eruption of Axial Seamount, the count of underwater tremors is anticipated to increase dramatically, moving from approximately 100 daily at present to as many as 10,000 seismic events in a single day.
The Seamount behaves similarly to the volcanoes in Hawaii and is expected to release more than a billion cubic feet of 'highly fluid lava' that weighs millions of tons.
Fortunately, the upcoming eruption is not expected to endanger human lives in Washington, Oregon, and California, even though it is located just 300 miles from the shoreline.
It is too deep and too distant from the coast for people to detect when it erupts, and it probably will not affect seismic activity on land.
Even if the eruption is postponed by a year, Chadwick stated that the additional accumulation probably won't alter the characteristics of the final explosion or introduce any new dangers to the public.
"It's difficult to predict the magnitude of the upcoming eruption, but it's likely to be similar to the recent ones," he disclosed.
Read more- How probable is it that the seismic activity at Axial Seamount might indicate a significant underwater eruption occurring at any moment?
- Is the increasing pressure and growing earthquake activity at Oregon's Axial Seamount indicate a possible underwater eruption?
- Is the underwater giant Axial Seamount set to cause turmoil with an upcoming eruption in just a few months?
- Is the anxiety about an upcoming eruption of Oregon's Axial Seamount causing widespread concern in the Pacific Northwest?
- Is the Pacific Northwest preparing for a major volcanic event as Axial Seamount exhibits troubling indicators of an impending eruption?
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