We built our largest cities on a ticking time bomb. The Cascadia earthquake won't just destroy buildings — it will trigger a systemic infrastructure collapse that we are completely unprepared for.

In this episode of Alta Earth, we deconstruct the mechanics of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. From the 300-year-old tax logs of Japanese samurai to the ghost forests of Washington State, we uncover the terrifying forensic evidence of a 9.0 megathrust.

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Scientific Archive & Sources:

"The Orphan Tsunami of 1700—Japanese Clues to a Parent Earthquake in North America" by Brian F. Atwater et al. (2005) - Published by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1707.

"Time and size of a giant earthquake in Cascadia inferred from Japanese tsunami records of January 1700" by Kenji Satake et al. (1996) - Nature.

"Fault slip and seismic moment of the 1700 Cascadia earthquake inferred from Japanese tsunami descriptions" by Kenji Satake et al. (2003) - Journal of Geophysical Research.

"Episodic tremor and slip on the Cascadia subduction zone" by Garry Rogers and Herb Dragert (2003) - Science.

"Tree-ring dating the 1700 Cascadia earthquake" by David K. Yamaguchi et al. (1997) - Nature.

"Great earthquakes of variable magnitude at the Cascadia subduction zone" by Brian F. Atwater et al. (2006) - U.S. Geological Survey.

"Strain accumulation along the Cascadia subduction zone" by M.H. Murray and M. Lisowski (2000) - Geophysical Research Letters.

"Holocene earthquake records from the Cascadia subduction zone and northern San Andreas fault based on precise dating of offshore turbidites" by Chris Goldfinger et al. (2003) - Geological Society of America Bulletin.

"Long-Term Perspectives on Giant Earthquakes and Tsunamis at Subduction Zones" by Kenji Satake and Brian F. Atwater (2007) - Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

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Timecodes for videos:

00:00 - The Orphan Tsunami

04:28 - The Ghost Forests

08:03 - The Silent Slip

11:59 - 300 Years of Tension

13:42 - The Kinetic Detonation

16:13 - Six Minutes of Shaking

19:37 - Soil Liquefaction

22:54 - The Megathrust Tsunami

27:53 - The Fire Flood Trap

32:32 - Continental Collapse

35:48 - Next Episode: Antarctica

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Credits:

Creator & Producer: Artem Kryzahnovskyi

Writer: Artem Kryzahnovskyi

Video Editor: Artem Kryzahnovskyi

Sound Desingner: Artem Kryzahnovskyi

Thumbnail Designer: Artem Kryzahnovskyi ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

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