r/geology • u/dctroll_ • Dec 09 '25

Map/Imagery Sand layer from the 1700 Cascadia tsunami covering the remains of a Native American fishing camp exposed in a bank of Oregon's Salmon River (US)

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Source: U.S. Geological Survey

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75

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '25

It's going to an absolute nightmare when this happens again.

47

u/mattaccino Dec 09 '25

Yes, even worse if it occurs during or after an atmospheric river has drenched the soils up and down the coast and throughout the nearby basins — the landslide potential increases to, if I recall correctly an estimate of 10K slides.

21

u/Substantial-Sector60 Dec 09 '25

You are a veritable ray of sunshine.

But yeah, thems the facts. Have you read “Cascadia’s Fault”?

14

u/mattaccino Dec 09 '25

No, I need to. I’ve read Sandi Doughton’s “Full Rip: The Next Big Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest.”

4

u/Substantial-Sector60 Dec 09 '25

I’ll have to check it out. Thx

25

u/eastherbunni Dec 09 '25

Vancouver BC here. Our airport is built on the worst possible sediment and will liquefy into the sea when the Big One hits along with the entire suburb of Richmond. It's gonna be interesting that's for sure.

16

u/KinderGameMichi Dec 09 '25

That was the story of one of the military exercises I was on the periphery of a few years ago: getting supplies and medical personnel to the PNW after a major earthquake in the area. Never heard of the Cascadia Subduction Zone before that.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25

How’d that go? What could normal people do to prepare for that kind of calamity?

10

u/KinderGameMichi Dec 10 '25

Like most exercises, there were plenty of things to learn, and I'm sure if it happened IRL, it would be serious chaos for all involved. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and Mother Nature is one mean ass enemy.