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Scientists Gather Off Pacific Northwest Coast Hoping to Witness Undersea Tectonic Plates Pulling Apart

AP Staff / Aimee Herd reporting : Mar 9, 2005
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Scientists from the University of Hawaii, Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headed for the Endeavor Hot Vents last weekend, located off-shore near Vancouver Island and the mouth of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. They were scrambling to view two tectonic plates, located under about 7,425 feet of water, pull apart as a possible result of the recent swarm of undersea earthquakes in the area.

Robert Dziak, an oceanographer from the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon remarked, “These earthquake swarms are associated with seafloor spreading.” The Endeavor Hot Vents are part of the Northern Juan de Fuca Ridge where researchers say plates of the Earth’s crust are moving apart.