Fault that could cause damaging earthquake in Canada connected to Washington

A fault that may put our neighbors to the north on slightly higher alert has connections in Washington.

Seismologists in B.C. recently confirmed the existence of a fault just over three miles south of Victoria, CBC News reports. That fault is connected to others in the Puget Sound lowlands, Brian Sherrod of the United States Geological Service says.

“It’s a really important find for them … because it shows that those faults extend north of the border and into other parts of the upper plate that we’ve been suspecting were active,” he explained. “But we just didn’t have any evidence.

“Now it looks like they’re going to have some evidence.”

Known as the Leech River Fault, Sherrod says researchers recently found possible connections between it and the Darrington-Devil’s Mountain faults that run through portions of Puget Sound and east toward the Cascades. The faults can be traced through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and point toward Victoria. Which one is the Leech fault is “an open-ended question,” Sherrod said.

CBC News reports the fault zone in the north could produce a magnitude-7.0 or greater earthquake, according to a study done in 2015. CBC News reports the fault zone most likely would not rupture at the same time. However, the proximity of the fault zone to Victoria “could be an issue,” according to John Cassidy, head of Earthquake Seismology at Natural Resources Canada.

Now that it is confirmed the next steps include finding out how often quakes occur at the faults. Frequency could be an issue up north, but just like Western Washington, preparations have been ongoing for the next “big one” anyway.

As for exactly what impacts this newly confirmed fault could have on Washington, Sherrod says more work needs to be done.

“We just need to do a bit more mapping and how the faults north and south of the border relate to each other.”