Results of seismological monitoring in the Cascade Range 1962-1989: earthquakes, eruptions, avalanches and other curiosities

Abstract

Modern monitoring of seismic activity at Cascade Range volcanoes began at Longmire on Mount Rainier in 1958. Since then, there has been an expansion of the regional seismic networks in Washington, northern Oregon and northern California. Now, the Cascade Range from Lassen Peak to Mount Shasta in the south and Newberry Volcano to Mount Baker in the north is being monitored for earthquakes as small as magnitude 2.0, and many of the stratovolcanoes are monitored for non-earthquake seismic activity. This monitoring has yielded three major observations. First, tectonic earthquakes are concentrated in two segments of the Cascade Range between Mount Rainier and Mount Hood and between Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak, whereas little seismicity occurs between Mount Hood and Mount Shasta. Second, the volcanic activity and associated phenomena at Mount St. Helens have produced intense and widely varied seismicity. And third, at the northern stratovolcanoes, signals generated by surficial events such as debris flows, icequakes, steam emissions, rockfalls and icefalls are seismically recorded. Such records have been used to alert authorities of dangerous events in progress. -Authors