Netarts Bay is home to one of the finest estuaries in Oregon; a rich ecosystem of oysterbeds and coastal marshes. However, it conceals evidence of the last great earthquake in the Northwest. 320 years ago, on January 26, 1700, the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptured along its full length, sending a colossal tsunami onto the Oregon Coast and across the Pacific to Japan. The tsunami is recorded in Oregon as a layer of sand amidst mudflat deposits. Here, 7 tsunami layers are recorded, showing earthquakes back over 2,000 years.
Also, a ghost forest is present. Stumps of ash and fir trees are preserved under water and in the mud that have been carbon dated to around 1000AD. These trees were killed by a tsunami event which saturated them in salt water. The earthquakes cause the coast to subside by about 1 meter, into the water, and the slow tectonic action between earthquakes slowly raises it back above the water.
I've been back a number of times since these pictures were taken, and when the data is all published I'll talk more freely about it.
