Experts are concerned that a hole in a 600-mile-long mega-leak at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean would cause a cataclysmic earthquake, destroying cities along the northwest US coast. The hole is located 50 miles off the coast of Oregon on the limit of the dipping fault known as the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Researchers have revealed that it is currently spouting hot liquid.
Due to its chemically unique leakage known as “fault lubricant,” the hole has the potential to cause an earthquake with a magnitude of nine – the highest point on the Richter scale. This might affect major metropolitan cities like as Seattle, Portland, and Oregon, as well as Northern California and Vancouver Island in Canada.
The University of Washington (UW) recently re-analyzed the leak, which was detected in 2015, and discovered that the “lubricant” permits tectonic plates to move smoothly, but without it, “stress can build to create a damaging quake,” according to academics.
The hole has been called ‘Pythias Oasis’ after the ancient Greek oracle who “prophesized” with the help of mind-altering vapors rising from a hot spring, according to the UW team.
After sonar scans caught bubbles rising up from the seafloor, a robotic diver discovered the hole during a survey. Data showed that the leaking spring liquid was coming from the plate boundary line and appeared to be warmer than the surrounding area.
Water like firehose spouting from the Seafloor
Evan Solomon, an associate professor at the University of Washington of oceanography who studies seafloor geology, said in a statement: “They explored in that direction and what they saw was not just methane bubbles, but water coming out of the seafloor like a firehose. That’s something that I’ve never seen and, to my knowledge, has not been observed before.”
The leaking liquid was revealed to be 16 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding ocean and to be coming directly from the Cascadia megathrust, where temperatures are expected to range between 300 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit. He added: “Loss of fluid from the offshore megathrust interface through these strike-slip faults is important because it lowers the fluid pressure between the sediment particles and hence increases the friction between the oceanic and continental plates.”
The megathrust fault zone was compared to an air hockey table Solomon. He added: “If the fluid pressure is high, it’s like the air is turned on, meaning there’s less friction and the two plates can slip. If the fluid pressure is lower, the two plates will lock – that’s when stress can build up.”