Three Small Quakes Off Oregon Coast Sunday, No Alerts

Published 10/09/2016 at 8:51 PM PDT - Updated 10/09/2016 at 8:58 PM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Oregon Coast) – A trio of small earthquakes hit off the Oregon coast on Sunday, each roughly between 260 to 220 miles west of Coos Bay – and between a magnitude 4.8 and a magnitude 4.1. All were about 6.3 miles deep.

None created a tsunami alert.

The USGS, however, has said two people reported feeling the larger one, which happened at 12:08 p.m. That quake was the farthest from shore.

The first occurred at 5:18 a.m. at a magnitude 4.1 and about 330 miles SW of Portland. It is considered sizable but harmless that far out to sea.

The second also shook at a magnitude 4.1 at 11:51 a.m., situated at 329 miles SW of Portland.

The third at magnitude 4.8 happened at 12:08 p.m. and was 339 miles from Portland.

The one that made big news earlier this past week was the magnitude 3.1 just northwest of Woodburn on October 6. That jolt was felt throughout the Willamette Valley and even parts of the Portland metro area.

Another much larger quake happened a couple hundred miles off Brookings on October 1, clocking in at a magnitude 5.9. This occurred as a series of smaller quakes were also shaking northern California and its coastline.

You can keep up with all earthquake activity along the Oregon coast as well as California, Washington and British Columbia with the Live Earthquake, Tsunami Updates from Oregon Coast, Washington. B.C., California, Alaska section.

These series of quakes happened on a long line of seismic faults that is about 300 miles off the Oregon coast along the Juan de Fuca plate, all part of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. That area runs from southern California all the way up into the shores off British Columbia, and it is a hot zone of seismic activity where the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Pacific Plate are separating. This causes small to larger earthquakes – especially offshore – on a regular basis.

Scientists say this will someday create a much bigger quake that will wreck much of inland Oregon as well as create massive tsunamis along the Oregon coast. These happen about every 300 to 500 years or so. Also see Oregon Coast Geology

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