Scientists said Thursday they have uncovered evidence of a giant earthquake that struck the U.S. and Canadian west coasts early in the year 1700. Based on Japanese writings from that year, as well as new geologic evidence, investigators have concluded an earthquake of magnitude 9 struck the region and created a huge tidal wave known as a tsunami, which traveled across the Pacific Ocean and caused significant damage in Japan. The quake, unprecedented in America in modern times, released as much energy within a few minutes as the entire country consumes in a month, they said. The earthquake apparently ruptured the full length of an enormous fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone, which runs more than 600 miles along the Pacific coast from southern British Columbia to northern California. Previously, this fault was thought to be inactive. A 9-magnitude quake could threaten tall buildings from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Francisco, scientists said.

It also would warp large areas of seafloor, thereby setting off ocean waves that could again reach the far side of the Pacific Ocean. The Cascadia fault currently is locked, they said, meaning it is accumulating energy for a future destructive event, sometime in the next 200 years.

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