What would you do...

if you were facing a similar situation?

Here's one scenario...

for a great quake and tsunami in the Cascadia subduction zone:  Totally Psyched for the Full-Rip Nine.

Upcoming geology lecture in Spokane...

is one not to miss:

"The Orphan Tsunami of 1700" will be presented by Dr. Brian Atwater, USGS, University of Washington - Department of Earth and Space Sciences.  Brian will summarize his research in the likelihood of large earthquakes in the Cascadia subduction zone, especially relevant given the recent disaster in Japan.

The talk is sponsored by the Society of Inland Northwest Environmental Scientists at 7 pm at Luigi's Italian Restaurant in Spokane.  Social hour begins at 6 pm.

40.5 meter run-up measured...

from the tsunami that struck Japan in March: Survey of 2011 Tohoku earthquake tsunami inundation and run-up.

Image courtesy AGU.

The man who predicted...

the tsunami.

Tragic flotsam...

Tsunami debris could wash ashore in Oregon.

Here's a diagram of the currents involved, and a bunch of it will certainly end up in the North Pacific gyre.

Geologic evidence for great quakes...

and tsunamis along the Cascadia subduction zone comes in a variety of forms, one of which is sunken or drowned forests, where stands of living trees were abruptly lowered into the tidal zone during earth movements. Here's a site near Coos Bay, Oregon, visited during an EWU field course (click to enlarge):

And another in Willapa Bay, Washington, where a myriad of tree stumps are exposed during low tide:

While the trees themselves have long died and weathered away, the large stumps still sit in growth position:

Here's a good, but now dated, general article (.pdf format) that describes the work of Brian Atwater and others who have figured out this geologic story.

Orders of magnitude...

Japan's earthquake death toll set to hit 25,000 as it emerges ANOTHER town has 10,000 people missing

Survivors...

• Japan Tsunami Survivor Hiromitsu Shinkawa Found 10 Miles Out At Sea
• Two Dogs Defy the Wave

The most recorded tsunami...

in history, where anyone with a cell phone is a citizen reporter.  Some of the the most impressive videos, at least to me, follow below.  Click the button in the lower right corner of each window for full screen viewing.

The first arrival of the tsunami on-shore:


Well engineered buildings sway in response to the earthquake:


Liquefaction occurring in real time:


The tsunami arrives at Santa Cruz, California:

Massive 8.9 mag earthquake...

and accompanying tsunami strikes Japan, triggering warnings throughout the Pacific region.  And here are the details of the tremor from the USGS, the fifth largest recorded in the world.

RELATED:  Here's the latest tsunami warning for the west coast of the US, and a forecast map of wave height:

UPDATE: Here's the seismogram of the tremor as recorded at EWU:

Lastly, here's a photogallery of the horrific destruction.

Signs along the road...

commemorating the fatal landfall of a tsunami at Lapahoehoe, Hawaii, on this date in 1946. A large earthquake in the Aleutian Islands triggered the tsunami that claimed 159 lives on Hawaii. I snapped this image of the memorial during a visit to the tragic site in 2007 (click to enlarge).

Nothing to apologize for...

Scientists Defend Warning After Tsunami Nonevent

Massive mag 8.8 earthquake...

occurs in subduction zone between Nazca and South American plates, ~200 mi south of Santiago, Chile. News report here and a tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii. Here's a slide show of some of the damage.

USGS details and summary: "A large vigorous aftershock sequence can be expected from this earthquake." The graphic above shows that this has already begun (click to enlarge) and here's a list of aftershock events.

Tsunami sweeps parking lot...

in American Samoa on 29 September, triggered by a large earthquake in the region, and captured by a camera at the FBI office.

Tsunami safe house...

may be built at Cannon Beach, Oregon as a demonstration project.

It's an interesting concept but I would be tempted to ride out the event at the so-called "tsunami evacuation building" just for the thrill and potential for photographic opportunities. Wouldn't others do the same, instead of sensibly evacuating?

Signs along the road...

on the Oregon coast.

Rare Atlantic tsunami...

may have washed ashore 2,300 years ago in the New Jersey and New York area based on evidence in 20 drill cores. The causative mechanism is not known, and speculation ranges from a megastorm to a submarine landslide to an impact event.

It could happen again.

Cascade volcanoes all erupt simultaneously!

Happy April Fools' Day.

Seriously though, and sadly, on this day in 1946 an earthquake in the Aleutians generated a tsunami that killed 165 people in Alaska and Hawaii.

Also on this date, in 2004, Gmail was released. I became a user in 2005 and find it operates considerably better than the e-mail service at the university. Highly recommended.

Signs along the road...

in Uncle Billy's Hilo Bay Hotel in Hilo, Hawaii. I've stayed there - highly recommended. Sadly, tsunamis are part of the tragic history of this place in paradise: 61 people lost their lives in a 10.7 m (35 ft) tsunami generated by an earthquake near Chile in 1960.