Did the earth move for you?

November 4, 2010 8:07 AM

Pacific NW geology filter: How savvy are locals about the Cascadia Earthquake of 1700? How about the OWL?

I'm helping my wife writer her second novel by doing some Pacific NW geological research for her. To that end, I would like to ask Oregon/Washington MeFiers --

1) Have you ever heard of the Olympic-Wallowa Lineament (OWL)?
2) Were you aware of the 1700 Cascadia earthquake?

I am trying to assess what the "common knowledge" level is out there about these. Thanks in advance!

posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit to Science & Nature (32 answers total)

Born in Seattle, lived there for most of my life, never heard of either.
posted by Lokheed at 8:14 AM on November 4, 2010

I'm a lifelong Oregonian. I've never heard of them.
posted by chrchr at 8:21 AM on November 4, 2010

Lived in Seattle for five years, have not heard of either.
posted by proj at 8:21 AM on November 4, 2010

Husband born and raised in Portland, OR, says he is aware of the Cascadia Earthquake from earthquake drills in school, signs on the beaches, seismic building codes.

Granted he is a geologist.

He hasn't heard of OWL though.
posted by collocation at 8:23 AM on November 4, 2010

Grew up in Oregon. No clue about these.
posted by juliapangolin at 8:24 AM on November 4, 2010

13 years here, have the roadside guide to washington geology and i go rockhounding with my kids. I've linked to many geology sites and keep up with seismology on a monthly basis (i.e. I check for recent earthquake activity online).
Not familiar with either of those events.
posted by OHenryPacey at 8:26 AM on November 4, 2010

Born and raised in Seattle, lived there for all but four years of my life. Have not heard of these.
posted by evinrude at 8:27 AM on November 4, 2010

Lived in Oregon for 10 years, have not heard of either of these.
posted by DrGirlfriend at 8:33 AM on November 4, 2010

Lived in Seattle for ten years. I haven't heard of OWL, but yes, have heard of the Cascadia quake.
posted by bunji at 8:37 AM on November 4, 2010

Moved to the Puget Sound area three years ago; aware of Cascadia Earthquake, had not heard of OWL, so thanks for introducing me to it! (For others interested, there's what looks like a very thorough, detailed article at Wikipedia, which I've bookmarked for later perusal.)
posted by Kat Allison at 8:39 AM on November 4, 2010 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow. Okay, that's great! I was hoping that they would be relatively obscure. The OWL isn't an event, though -- it's a puzzling feature.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 8:40 AM on November 4, 2010

Grew up in Seattle, never heard of either of these. If it's helpful, we did learn about the fault patterns in the area during our 7th Washington State history class - chiefly I remember this because 7th graders cannot maturely discuss the concept of a "subduction zone"
posted by heyforfour at 8:56 AM on November 4, 2010

I've lived in Portland for seven years and have read up a bit on the 1700 quake (such as how its exact date was determined due to the resulting tsunami in Japan ... and how we're overdue for a similar one.) This affected my decision on where to send my kid for kindergarten, as not all school buildings have been retrofitted (not that there are any guarantees of something remaining standing or not, but still).

I've never heard of OWL, though.
posted by lisa g at 9:14 AM on November 4, 2010

I'm pretty sure there was an episode of "raging earth" on the cascadia quake. I remember watching it with a bunch of people from Seattle/ Portland and it was news to most of them.
posted by fshgrl at 9:36 AM on November 4, 2010

I moved to the NW a year ago, and my mom's side of the family is from here. I've heard of the 1700 earthquake, but even after looking up OWL on wikipedia, I still have no idea what it is.
posted by colfax at 9:45 AM on November 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seattle 10 years, PDX 3 years, remember reading about the 1700 quake after the Nisqually earthquake a few years ago, don't ever recall hearing about the OWL.
posted by nomisxid at 10:02 AM on November 4, 2010

The engineering community here in the southern Willamette Valley is very aware of the subduction zone, the seismic challenges and the effects of another meqathrust quake. Most know there was one not too long before Lewis and Clark came through but probably couldn't pin down a date. Most of the engineers are more concerned with volcanic eruptions though, not big earthquakes. I think because volcanos are cool, not any realistic threat assessment. I have not heard of the OWL though, and it hasn't come up in discussion of the geology of the area.
posted by bartonlong at 10:06 AM on November 4, 2010

Born and bread Portlander here..a little bit of knowledge of the 1700 quake, but i've never heard anything about the OWL. In middle school, we were taught pretty extensively during geology units about the "big one" that is long overdue, and they referenced the 1700 quake a bunch.

It was pretty great having earthquake drills that mimicked the 1950's "duck and cover" drills...
posted by furnace.heart at 10:13 AM on November 4, 2010

Like most people here I've heard of the quake but not the OWL (though I'm fascinated now). It does get a mention in Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest: A Survivors Guide in relation to an Earthquake in NE Oregon in 1936.
posted by tallus at 10:27 AM on November 4, 2010

Portlander for three years. Yes the cascadia quake (and our imminent doom we will have in the next 0-300 years), but never heard of the OWL.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:29 AM on November 4, 2010

Lifelong Washington resident and have not heard of either. Now I'm curious too...
posted by in the methow at 10:32 AM on November 4, 2010

Wow, Kat Allison, that must be just about the best Wikipedia article I've ever read.

I knew everything about the 1700 quake mentioned so far, but had never heard of the OWL.
posted by jamjam at 11:24 AM on November 4, 2010

Born, raised, and living in Oregon. Heard of the 1700 quake, mainly in excited discussions about matching up records with a tsunami in Japan. Haven't yet heard of the OWL.
posted by CrystalDave at 11:39 AM on November 4, 2010

Just another data point for you: Born and raised Oregonian, I have some recollection of the 1700 earthquake but never heard of the Lineament.
posted by maniactown at 11:50 AM on November 4, 2010

From Seattle. Never heard of OWL.

Learned about the Cascadia quake from an interesting piece on KUOW a while back about how a precise date and time was established by correlating with tsunami records from Japan.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:24 PM on November 4, 2010

Moved to Portland in March. Had never heard of either until I took an earthquake preparedness class last Saturday morning. I don't know if he mentioned OWL specifically, but he did mention the 1700 quake and that another one is overdue.
posted by bink at 12:34 PM on November 4, 2010

Seattle almost all of my life; never heard of either.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 12:37 PM on November 4, 2010

Another native Portlander here. I knew about the quake, but not the OWL. But then, the OWL doesn't threaten to turn the ground into pudding every few hundred years, either.

There's a fair bit of knowledge about the general local geology. Schoolkids are taught quake safety and tsunami warning signs, we're surrounded by more-or-less active volcanoes, and there's a park near my home with a play structure inspired by the Missoula Floods. Specific details about the events aren't so widely spread, though - in my experience, the emphasis is more "This is neat and could kill us all."
posted by VelveteenBabbitt at 12:41 PM on November 4, 2010

Born and raised in Seattle, never heard of either, specifically - but we did earthquake drills in elementary school and were taught that serious earthquakes have struck the area in the past, and probably will again.
posted by illenion at 1:17 PM on November 4, 2010

I've spent 14-ish of the past 22-ish years in Western Washington and didn't recognize either of those.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:51 PM on November 4, 2010

I have never lived in WA or OR, but I know about OWL -- if you have the USGS Map I-2206 hanging on your wall you know all kinds of cool large-scale geological features of the 48 states.
posted by phliar at 3:16 PM on November 4, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone -- much appreciated. My wife's lead character is an East Coast transplant to the Seattle area. She teaches geology, so might well have seen that map, philar -- but in any case she knows of the OWL and the quake and in one scene confounds a native Tacoman -- who has never heard of either -- with this info. I figured that since MeFites are generally an educated group interested in various and sundry things, if a high proportion of Pacific Northwesterners were unfamiliar with the OWL and the quake, it would make for an interesting scene in the novel.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:11 AM on November 5, 2010