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A particularly chilling prospect for Northern California, as well as Oregon and Washington, would be a magnitude 9 earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast.

A nightmare scenario for Northern California, as well as Oregon and Washington, would be a magnitude 9 earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast.

The upgrade also would improve warnings for the Pacific Northwest and California’s North Coast, which are threatened by tsunamis from quakes along the Cascadia subduction zone.

"These splay faults are closer to the coast, so these tsunamis will be faster to hit the coastline than a tsunami generated only from a subduction zone earthquake."

DePaolis, along with Tina Dura, assistant professor of natural hazards, and colleagues from the United States Geological Survey, found evidence that splay faults, the crustal faults connected to the subduction zones, may shift during subduction zone earthquakes and contribute to local coastal destruction and ecological change more regularly than previously realized.