Did North American Quake Cause 1700 Japanese Tsunami?
An international team of scientists says that a great earthquake of magnitude 9 struck the Pacific Northwest in 1700, and created a tsunami that caused flooding and damage on the Pacific coast of Japan. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth, shows how a great earthquake along the Cascade subduction zone, which runs for 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) down the Pacific coast of North America, warped the ocean floor and briefly changed the shape of the overlying sea surface, sending large waves crashing onto Japanese shores only 10 to 20 hours later.
