On this day in 1700 CE at approximately 9 p.m. PT, an 8.7-9.2 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of present-day British Columbia. The Juan de Fuca plate slipped by 20 metres along 1,000 km fault rupture. Let's learn more about this event 🧵1/10 - ThreadSky

cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social • 37 days ago

On this day in 1700 CE at approximately 9 p.m. PT, an 8.7-9.2 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of present-day British Columbia.
The Juan de Fuca plate slipped by 20 metres along 1,000 km fault rupture.
Let's learn more about this event

🧵1/10

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cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

While there are no written records of the earthquake, much of what happened has been related in the oral histories of the First Nations.
The exact time and day comes from the record of a tsunami that hit Japan hours after the earthquake.

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cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

One oral history tells of an earthquake and ocean wave that destroyed settlements in Pachena Bay. On the north end of Vancouver Island, the oral history states there was a nighttime earthquake that destroyed nearly every home in the settlement.

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cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

Other oral histories talk of a man who was pursued in a canoe by villagers. He drowned in the water and the villagers were punished with an earthquake that destroyed their settlement.
Many First Nations in the area have similar stories of the earthquake.

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cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

Along with the oral histories, there is a lot of physical evidence of the earthquake.
There are ghost forests of red cedars along the coasts. These were created when the coastal forest was lowered into the tidal zone. The stumps of those trees still stand.

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sv-rub-a-dub.bsky.social•36 days ago

I've wondered about this as a sailor for a very long time: was the coastal shelf at Estevan Point on the Hesquiat Peninsula, which is abnormally broad, flat, and uncharacteristically (for that part of the coast) tidal in nature, created during that earthquake?

cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

The Bridge of the Gods is a natural dam that was created by the Bonneville Slide. This slide is believed to have been caused by the earthquake. Radiocarbon dating dated the slide to sometime between 1670 and 1760 but it may have been as early as 1450.

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cdnhistoryehx.bsky.social•37 days ago

A lava flow eruption on the Tseax Cone near Terrace, BC also occurred near the same time as the earthquake (1668 to 1714).
This eruption dammed the river and formed a lava lake. It is believed the eruption destroyed at least three villages and killed 2,000 people.

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annecoombe.bsky.social•37 days ago

We have two daughters who live in Tofino on Vancouver Island (heaven on earth) where there are procedures and highly marked, designated spots to go during a Tsunami warning. Hope they’re never needed. 🙏

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