Future Shocks

Future Shocks

Future Shocks showed how scientists can better predict where earthquakes will occur by studying the past. Researchers are now able to pinpoint the date, hour and size of an earthquake from the past, by studying ghost forests. The researchers compare the rings of the trees of known age that have survived earthquakes, with the rings of the ghost forest trees.

The study of the past is very important because scientists still cannot predict earthquakes. By gathering evidence from the past, scientists are learning to map danger zones, and spread the warning of quakes, even if they can't predict when it will happen.

Studies show that the Pacific Northwest is in danger of a large quake, due to the fact that it rests on a continental plate that meets at a seafloor plate. The boundary between the two plates is known as the Cascadia subduction zone.

Using satellite technology scientists confirm that the region's tectonic plates are converging and locked together. In some places the coastlines are rising by 1.5 inches a year. If the land has raised that far it could drop that far when a quake comes. It will collapse and there will be new ghost forests.

Recent studies show that over a dozen major quakes have occurred in the Pacific Northwest over the past 7,000 years. Seattle is one of the worst places for an earthquake. Every few months' scientists develop new hazards in Seattle. A recent study shows estimates that 10 million people in the U.S. west coast would be affected by a Cascadia subduction zone quake.