4.1 earthquake strikes 100 miles west of southern Oregon coast

4.1 earthquake May 16

4.1 earthquake May 16 west of Port Orford

A 4.1-magnitude earthquake shook the bottom of the Pacific Ocean around 8 a.m. Sunday off the southern Oregon coast, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which tracks the events.

The quake struck about 100 miles west of Port Orford. It was the 10th-strongest earthquake off Oregon’s coast in 2021 so far, coming about two-and-a-half weeks after three separate quakes set just as many still-unbeaten records for the year. The strongest among them hit magnitude 5.4.

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Mini-earthquakes strike often near Oregon’s coast, a regular reminder of the cataclysmic earthquake geologists say will happen when the pressure building between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates breaks.

Per Oregon officials, scientists say there is a 37% chance that a 7.1 magnitude or higher earthquake will happen at the boundary between the two tectonic plates, called the Cascadia Subduction Zone, in the next 50 years.

-- The Oregonian

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