A seafloor hole shooting up warm, mineral-rich liquid into the Pacific Ocean near Oregon’s central coastal might not be a good sign for earthquake activity in the region, scientists say.
The hole, named “Pythia’s Oasis” after the ancient Greek high priestess who speaks the prophecies while inhaling the vapor rising from a hot spring, is described as a “warm, high-discharge, water-dominated seafloor seep” located about 50 miles off Newport, Oregon. It also sits on top of the 600-mile Cascadia Subduction Zone fault, a source of major earthquake events up to magnitude 9.0 or greater.
In their latest study to explain the vent’s nature, researchers at the University of Washington (UW) suggest that the liquid leaking out of it may be acting as a lubricant between the oceanic and continental plates, and that less lubricant means more pressure accumulated to produce a devastating earthquake….