Scientists at the University of Washington announced this month that they found a firehose of water spewing nonstop from the ocean floor 50 miles off the Oregon coast from Newport.
Once social media and a late-night talk show host got hold of the news, misinformation began flying about the leak’s ominous link to the region’s next megathrust earthquake.
Here’s the real story:
It’s actually not new: The warm, mineral-rich fluid spewing out of a 2-inch-diameter vent more than 3,000 feet beneath ocean waves was discovered by a University of Washington undergraduate student in 2014. But scientists say the leak has been around for about 1,500 years. They used thermal models to estimate the time the leak has been active.
It’s called a seep: Cracks or fissures in the ocean floor that gush liquid or gasses up the water column are commonly found in the world’s oceans. They’re called seeps. Cold seeps can spew methane, petroleum, carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide, while high-temperature seeps – known as hydrothermal vents or hot springs – are associated with underwater volcanoes and leak hot mineral-laden fluids. This seep isn’t either of those.
It’s linked to a fault line: Scientists first mistook the leak for a cold methane seep – there are at least 1,000 methane seeps in the region. But this seep’s water is much warmer, has a low salinity and has components such as boron and lithium that aren’t found in other seeps or elsewhere on the ocean floor. Based on its temperature and chemistry, scientists concluded the liquid originated in the Cascadia fault line, the place where earthquakes are generated.
It’s not a sign of an imminent earthquake: Scientists say the leak is static, meaning it’s been spewing liquid at the same high rate for hundreds of years. They say it doesn’t trigger or predict earthquakes and instead will offer a unique window into the inaccessible world under the seafloor where tectonic plates meet.
It has a cool name: The leak site was named Pythia’s Oasis after the Pythia, an ancient Greek priestess who sat in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi built above a seismic fault line, breathed in the fumes from a hot spring and entered a trance to prophesize and counsel local residents. Scientists still don’t know what prophecies – if any – Pythia’s Oasis may hold.
Read the full story on OregonLive.
– Gosia Wozniacka; gwozniacka@oregonian.com; @gosiawozniacka
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