Meteorologist Samantha Davies

A swarm of earthquakes off the coast of Oregon is generating a lot of questions. Scientists listening to microphones underwater have detected the unusual earthquakes. Over the past two weeks over 600 earthquakes have been reported with three of them being magnitude 5 or greater. Usually this is a sign of a potential volcanic eruption, but here is where the questions lie- there is no volcanoes in the area.

Is there a new volcano forming?? The earthquakes could be the result of magma rumbling under the Juan de Fuca Plate. The earths crust is made up of plates sitting on molten rock (magma), when the molten rock erupts through the crust a volcano is created. Scientists from Oregon State University soon hope to send out research ships to take water samples. Within these samples, scientists will look for sediments that could have been stirred up, and they will look for chemicals indicating magma moving through the plate.

The other geological news: scientists are predicting that a major earthquake will strike California by the year 2037. Seismologists have looked at historical data, and fault lines to determine a 99.7% chance of 6.7-magnitude earthquake within the next 30 years. Scientists, however, can’t determine the location of the earthquake. There is a 67% chance that the tremor will hit the Los Angeles basin, and a 63% chance that the quake will impact the San Francisco Bay area.