5.5 earthquake detected off Washington coast
Posted: 11:58 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012
A 5.5 earthquake was detected about 185 miles west of Neah Bay in the Pacific Ocean late Saturday night.
The United States Geological Survey notes the first of three quakes in that area occurred at 11:07 p.m. It notes that some light shaking was reported by the public on the coast, but by far, the greatest shaking energy was well offshore. There was no tsunami threat.
The depth was 10.7 kilometers beneath the sea floor. This is in a zone where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate and the North American plate collide with the Juan de Fuca plate sliding (or being subducted) beneath the North American plate. Earthquakes are fairly common in this region and are rarely large enough to be felt onshore.
Two aftershocks were noted in the subsequent hours: one measuring 4.5 and one measuring 3.1.
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