VOLCANIC ERUPTION EXPECTED OFF OREGON.Byline: The Seattle Times Undersea earthquakes on an ocean ridge about 100 miles off the coast of Oregon suggest a volcanic eruption on the sea floor is imminent, government scientists say. For the past 12 days, hundreds of small earthquakes have been detected along the Gorda Ridge The Gorda Ridge is a tectonic spreading center located off the coast of Oregon and northern California north of Cape Mendocino. It runs from a triple junction with the San Andreas Fault and the Mendocino Fracture Zone northward to another transform boundary, the Blanco Fracture at a point due west of Gold Beach, Ore. It appears to be building to the third undersea eruption detected off Oregon since 1993. "We think it might be a very big eruption," said Stephen R. Hammond of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noun 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; provides weather reports and forecasts floods and hurricanes and . Scientists aboard the Seattle-based NOAA NOAA abbr. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noun 1. NOAA - an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; research vessel A research vessel (R/V) is a ship primarily constructed to carry out scientific research at sea. Role of research vessels Research vessels carry out a number of roles at sea. Some of these can be combined into a single vessel, others require a dedicated vessel. McArthur, which arrived at the scene Saturday, have reported numerous megaplumes: gigantic bursts of hot, mineral-rich water that are spewed out near underwater volcanoes. Researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle's Pacific Marine Environmental Labs, a division of NOAA, are on board sampling the hot water for blooms of bacteria they hope will someday some·day adv. At an indefinite time in the future. Usage Note: The adverbs someday and sometime express future time indefinitely: We'll succeed someday. Come sometime. prove useful to the biotechnology industry. If lava erupts, scientists hope to return to the site with a second ship and possibly a research submarine. |
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