Idaho: Earthquakes and an Undiscovered Fault Line

 


    
    Following up on last week's theme of "holy guacamole, Idaho has earthquakes!?" I found a news article which discusses the role that plate tectonics played in the 6.5 magnitude quake that struck central Idaho in March of 2020. It was the strongest quake to hit the state since the  early 80s, when Idaho played host to a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that left destruction in its wake. One doesn't really think about earthquakes affecting Idaho all that often, since we're so far from California and its famous San Andreas fault line, but the truth is, according to this article, that "mid-plate tectonic activity" is actually quite common in Idaho and in regions throughout the Northwest. 
    Apparently the most common earthquake in this part of the country is of the basin and range variety, but neither the 1983 nor the 2020 quake match this description, running as it does from North to South rather than East to West. Some geologist hypothesize that this is a sign that a previously unnoted mid-plate fault line exists which runs straight through Idaho. This fault line would have gone unnoticed precisely because there are so few earthquakes in Idaho of that magnitude, so there's little to attract interested geologist to the region to conduct studies which could uncover such a fault. Following the 2020 quake, there may well be enough interest in the possibility of such an undiscovered fault line to attract geologists to the region. Following the abatement of the pandemic, of course.

For more information, check out the original news story: https://www.krem.com/article/weather/explained-why-idaho-earthquakes-might-be-more-common-than-we-thought/293-47818049-7454-423a-aad4-b56a74bcc18b



















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