The Quake-Maker You've Never Heard Of: Cascadia
The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from British Columbia to California. Experts say a shift in the plates will cause a major natural disaster for people living along the west coast. Dr. Chris Goldfinger has spent years studying the earthquake and tsunami threat in the Pacific Northwest.
DR. CHRIS GOLDFINGER: If we have a 9.0 [magnitude earthquake], and it ruptures the whole subduction zone, then you're going to have probably three to five minutes of shaking. I've been in a 9.0 in Japan. Three minutes is an eternity. A 9.0 is typically going to make a wave of roughly 15-20 meters. That'll come in ashore beginning in about 15 minutes.
