New evidence suggests that the earthquake threat of the ‘Big One’ could be even worse than scientists thought

It’s every Californians worst nightmare.

Now experts are warning “The Big One” could be even worse than feared due to a horrific domino effect that could wipe out the West Coast.

ScienceDaily this weekhighlighted a concerning study from Oregon State University showing a seismic event on the Cascadia subduction zone could trigger the San Andreas fault line.

“We’re used to hearing the ‘Big One’ – Cascadia – being this catastrophic huge thing,”said Chris Goldfinger, a marine geologist at the college and lead author of the study.

“It turns out it’s not the worst-case scenario.”

Goldfinger says if both faults went off, it would be a multi-state and international emergency situation spanning from San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, to Vancouver.

“We could expect that an earthquake on one of the faults alone would draw down the resources of the whole country to respond to it,” Goldfinger said.

“And if they both went off together, then you’ve got potentially San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver all in an emergency situation in a compressed timeframe,” he added.

The scientist led a team examining ancient sediment, which had layers called turbidites, from both fault systems and found “similarities in timing and structure, suggesting the seismic synchronization between the faults.”

Goldfinger wouldn’t have made the fateful finding if it weren’t for an accident.

Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos