Please remember us in the PNW when the 9.5 Richter Mega-quake hits.

[chknltl]

83. So what is your level of familiarity with PNW geology?

Not looking to pick a fight but I may be interested in picking your brain on an unrelated topic. (Activity on micro-faultlines in Western Washington.) BTW I recently moved from Lakewood Wa. to pretty five acres a couple of miles east of McKenna. The Lakewood area is another area that I have some geologic questions about too.

Unrelated to my questions but on topic, Lakewood sits within a couple miles of Puget Sound. I believe it may be between 50-100 ft above sea level. The bluffs reaching down to the sea are quite steep and consist of loose glacial deposits. (Lakewood itself is not on the sea but neighboring Steillacoom is.) Those same bluffs seem to ring much of Puget Sound. Every year there are stories in the news detailing mudslides along those bluffs. When the 'big one' hits our area I can imagine that those bluffs are going to be VERY problematic to say the least. The landslides caused by a 9.0 earthquake on those bluffs might be another nightmare we are unable to prepare for, not only spilling hundreds of homes into Puget Sound but creating further chaotic tsunami-like undulations throughout the Sound as well!

I have a nice view of Mt Rainier from the balcony of the house I live next to. (I'm the property caretaker) A lot of folks believe this mountain would be much more catastrophic if it erupted like Mt. St Helens did. I wonder if a super-quake might cause a landslide event on Rainier bigger than that that happened on St. Helens. I further wonder about the chaos that could be uncorked from under that mountain should such a slide event occur.

On the other hand it is quite lovely here when the sun is out.