New maps of more than 1,000 deep-seated landslides in the Puget Lowlands of Washington State provide evidence of the last major earthquake along the Seattle Fault about 1,100 years ago -- and may also hold traces of older earthquakes along the fault.
Clusters of landslides offer a potential record of earthquakes, if researchers can determine when the landslides occurred. The new study published in thecombines information about the location of these Puget Lowlands landslides along with new dates obtained from measuring the surface roughness of the landslides.
"While other studies have refined our understanding of the overall strength or timing of the 1,100-year-old Seattle Fault earthquake, to our knowledge, this is the first study that has attempted to characterize the locations of strong shaking," Herzig said. Measuring the roughness of a landslide surface is a relatively new technique used by scientists to estimate the age of a landslide, he noted. The general idea is that ground surfaces roughen after the mass movement of rocks and soil, so that landslide deposits are the roughest right after the landslide occurs and become smoother over time.
"This method is best suited to understanding landscapes that have hills that are steep enough to have landslides, and that have infrequent but powerful earthquakes," Herzig said."In the U.S., that could mean other locations in the Puget Lowlands area, or places in the New Madrid seismic zone. Other locations around the world could also be interesting to study, such as the Hinagu Fault zone in Japan, or the Hellenic arc in Greece.
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New date evidence for landslides reveals past Seattle fault earthquakesNew maps of more than 1,000 deep-seated landslides in the Puget Lowlands of Washington State provide evidence of the last major earthquake along the Seattle Fault about 1,100 years ago—and may also hold traces of older earthquakes along the fault.
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