There’s a sleeping fault line that runs along the border between Canada and Alaska. The line has been dormant for millions of years as best scientists can tell. But new research suggests it could be waking up, and if it does, it could cause a catastrophic earthquake, scientists claim.
The new study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. In it, the scientists argue that the Tintina fault, which stretches roughly 600 miles into Alaska from the northeastern region of British Columbia, has shown signs of waking up from its dormant state. The fault line is estimated to have last been active nearly 40 million years ago.
The major concern here is that if the fault line is waking up, it could potentially lead to an earthquake of at least 7.5 magnitude, the research shows. As such, the Tintina fault “represents an important, previously unrecognized, seismic hazard,” the study authors write.
An earthquake capable of serious damage
The researchers determined that the fault line might be waking up thanks to new topographic data that was collected from airplane flyovers, satellite imagery, and drone surveillance. The data shows that a roughly 80-mile segment of the fault has shown movement of 2.6 million year-old and 132,000-year-old geological formations on both sides of the line. This suggests the fault may be at a late stage of its seismic cycle, a lead author on the study told SciTechDaily.
While the fault line doesn’t appear to be near any of the most earthquake prone cities in the world, that is small reassurance when you consider just how much damage an earthquake of that magnitude might unleash. According to experts from Michigan Tech, earthquakes that range between 7 to 7.9 magnitude are some of the most dangerous, with them capable of causing major damage.
In the past, scientists have found evidence of earthquakes so big they drove humans away from entire areas for thousands of years. Those types of earthquakes are estimated to happen only once every year or two, and even then, that earthquake was estimated to be a magnitude of 9.5 and triggered a tsunami, too.
Thankfully, the earthquake that the Tintina fault line might unleash isn’t likely to be that high of a magnitude. But it still could prove pretty dangerous. These levels of earthquakes are actually fairly rare, with only ten to 15 estimated to occur each year.
