4.0 Quake Off the Southern Oregon Coast Sunday, No Alerts
Published 04/29/2018 at 11:25 PM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff
(Oregon Coast) – A 4.0 earthquake shook up the ocean floor off the southern Oregon coast Sunday night. The small quake was centered about 120 miles west of Bandon, happening at 7:20 p.m. It happened about six miles beneath the bottom. (Graphic courtesy USGS).
No tsunami alerts were issued. It takes at least a 7.0 magnitude quake to generate a tsunami.
Earthquake magnitude measurements are extremely wide although the increments may appear small. A 7.0 is 1,000 times bigger than a 4.0, according to the USGS. But it is 31,622 times stronger in its release of energy.
Another small quake hit in the same general area of the southern Oregon coast on Thursday. That one was a magnitude 3.8, which hit at 1:44 a.m. The USGS said that quake was 67 miles west of Charleston, and about 98 miles SW of Newport.
Underwater earthquakes in this region are quite normal and a regular part of the geological processes on the sea floor of the Oregon coast. A network of fault lines runs parallel to the coast, stretching some 600 miles long along the western U.S., called the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
One day bring a much larger quake and tsunami to the area. This is a region where two plates of the Earth's crust meet and grind against each other: one carrying the continental U.S. and the other hoisting the Pacific Ocean. Stay up-to-date with Oregon, Coast Earthquake Updates - Live Data Oregon, Washington, California, Tsunamis.
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