Friday, April 25, 2008

Mysterious undersea earthquakes strike near coast - News

Mysterious undersea earthquakes strike near coast - News: "In the small hours of Thursday morning, a ship docked in Newport, Ore.
Its cargo was sea water.

Its aim was to solve a mystery that has bedeviled scientists across the globe.

During the past month, a quiet corner of the ocean floor 150 miles off the Oregon Coast has been rocked with more than 600 earthquakes. Mostly small quakes, they've continued through Thursday with more than four of them topping 5.0 on the Richter scale - and the scientists still aren't sure why.

But the water harvested from the ocean above the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate is an important clue. It might hold chemical information Oregon State University researchers at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport can use to find out what's causing the 'quake-swarm'."

No comments: