This is jaw-dropping: a resident of Chile with relatives in Vancouver (Washington, I presume, since KATU refers to them as "a local connection.") caught the road fissuring during the earthquake there.
Now I can't be certain, but I seriously doubt this represents "the fault" opening up. The epicenter was offshore, so if this is a fault, it was a different one activated by the passage of the seismic waves. An actual fault rupture would also travel much faster than we see in the clip- at the speed of sound in rock, which is several times faster than the speed of sound in air. I'd put my money on this being a slump of the road's foundation, perhaps liquifaction of the underlying soil/sediment/saprolith. Whatever is happening here, it's amazing. I'm glad everyone's okay.
(Video here, story here, via KATU)
Wow! That would be pretty scary to drive up on! Great post Lockwood!
ReplyDeleteI heard on the news this morning that a Seattle businessman (from Chile) was home visiting when the EQ hit and now today had to go to the morgue in order to identify his mother and grandmother. I was incredibly saddened for him- as I am for everyone who lost loved ones there.