tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post5896865863488962167..comments2024-03-21T14:41:14.622-07:00Comments on Graphic Firing Table: Dark WatersFDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-84209751716012616802015-09-01T21:35:13.268-07:002015-09-01T21:35:13.268-07:00Terrifying! "Now we have gone to a far place....Terrifying! "Now we have gone to a far place." <br /><br />I always enjoy your natural history shorts. (Funny, the roof peaking out from ground reminds me of a small Eastern shore cottage I once saw in a magazine, roof buried almost in the dune on one side -- just enough room for a bed, a table and lamp, and a small kitchen prep area. I thought it very cozy, and a fine place for a writing retreat. Really, just a place to be sane and isolated, ensconced within and yet protected from nature.)<br /><br />That was my dream at age 14.Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08839236994990699117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-92044035180911965202015-07-23T14:34:45.819-07:002015-07-23T14:34:45.819-07:00I don't think there is any way to truly harden...I don't think there is any way to truly harden the West Coast against a repeat of the 1700 earthquake and tsunami; that story that appeared recently in the new York Times magazine was kind of extreme, but it would still devastate the coast.<br />I live on Vancouver Island and I expect that there will be very little left to sustain us on this island after such an event: we don't grow any or our own food, we don't even generate our own power (it all comes across from the mainland in cables), all the docks will be smashed and the roads broken, we'll be on our own for months if not years.<br /><br />So perhaps we ought to do what we can against an event lesser in magnitude but greater in probability.<br /><br />Fine story though!<br /><br />BrianBrianhttp://brtrain.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-50236231502292030342015-07-17T09:40:47.590-07:002015-07-17T09:40:47.590-07:00The photo at the bottom, by the way is one of the ...The photo at the bottom, by the way is one of the "ghost forests" of the Northwest coast (in this case in Willapa Bay on the SW Washington coast.<br /><br />What happens between these events is that the upper (North American) plate "flexes" as it is shoved west against the subducting Juan de Fuca plate. This flexion is expressed as a slow rise in elevation over time, so tide flats become beaches become forests.<br /><br />Then the plates move, the big EQ and tsunami hammer the coast, and as part of that the upper plate "relaxes", stretches out laterally and drops down vertically; forests become tide flats (or bays) again and the seawater kills the cedars.<br /><br />Again, these "ghost forests" were found all along the Coast - in Oregon the most famous is at Neskowin Beach in central Tillamook county (http://traveloregon.com/trip-ideas/oregon-stories/neskowin-ghost-forest/) that has been dated to an event the occurred roughly 2,000 year before present. So we knew that this was happening but were happy to ignore it for decades and, even now, are unwilling to spend the money and political capital it'd take to truly harden western Oregon against this event...FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-22431513115096032092015-07-17T09:22:45.108-07:002015-07-17T09:22:45.108-07:00What makes me chuckle are all the comments about h...What makes me chuckle are all the comments about how this is "scare-mongering" and advising people "not to panic". The geotechnical community in the Northwest has known about this since the late Eighties when Brian Atwater started looking at paleotsunami sand layers in Grays Harbor and Curt Peterson started doing the same here in Oregon. Every so often someone reminds the Public about this and after a flurry of tut-tutting and head-shaking everyone goes back to <i>Dancing With The Stars</i>.<br /><br />There's a wonderful little book called <i>The Orphan Tsunami of 1700</i> that documents the researchers who did the geologic and archaeologic sleuthing that tracked down this event to the actual time it occurred; 9pm, January 27, 1700. It's available online here: http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/<br /><br />That the native peoples of the Northwest Coast were devastated is testified in the anecdotal record. Here's one story recorded by a white man named James Swan in 1864:<br /><br /><i>"Billy</i> (his native speaker) <i>also related an interesting tradition He says that</i> “ankarty” <i> but not </i>“hias ankarty” <i>that is, at not a very remote period the water flowed from Neeah bay through the Waatch prairie, and Cape Flattery was an Island. That the water receded and left Neeah Bay dry for four days<br />and became very warm. It then rose again without any swell or waves and submerged the whole of the cape and in fact the whole country except the mountains back of <br />Clyoquote. As the water rose those who had canoes put their effects into them and floated off with the current which set strong to the north. Some drifted one way and some another and when the waters again resumed their accustomed level a portion of the tribe found themselves beyond Nootka where their descendants now reside and are known by the same name as the Makahs—or Quinaitchechat. Many canoes came down in the trees and were destroyed, and numerous lives were lost. The same thing happened at Quillehuyte and a portion of that tribe went off either in canoes or by land and formed the Chimakum tribe>"</i><br /><br />Anyway, glad you enjoyed the story.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-23803633910653139082015-07-16T22:03:46.772-07:002015-07-16T22:03:46.772-07:00I remember the 64 Tsunami. But even that was a pi...I remember the 64 Tsunami. But even that was a piker compared to the 230,000 deaths in the 04 Indian Ocean quake and Tsunami.<br /><br />Evacuation traffic jams are going to be a problem on the Washington coast. I had a huge Sitka Spruce all picked out. There is a nice nook about 30 feet up. I planned on hidey-holing up there with a bottle of Scotch when the sirens blew. But now am wondering if a big cedar might be better as I note many Spruce up here have a fairly shallow root ball. <br /><br />Or why fight it? Some are saying huge chunks of the Washingto coast are going to turn out like our past community of Washaway Beach. And that neighborhood did not wash away from a Tsunami - only with normal sized waves. <br /><br />http://www.komonews.com/news/local/WATCH-IT-GO-3rd-home-tips-into-ocean-at-Washaway-Beach-285567491.htmlmikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31246093.post-48175140408299076462015-07-16T17:51:19.250-07:002015-07-16T17:51:19.250-07:00Beautiful story.
Good thing we know better now an...Beautiful story.<br /><br />Good thing we know better now and it can't happen to us.Aelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788190394672505925noreply@blogger.com