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Earthquake-Induced Subsidence and Burial of Late Holocene Archaeological Sites, Northern Oregon Coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rick Minor  and
Wendy C. Grant
Rick Minor
Affiliation:
Heritage Research Associates, 1997 Garden Avenue, Eugene, OR 97403
Wendy C. Grant
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, AK-50, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
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Abstract

Fire hearths associated with prehistoric Native American occupation lie within the youngest buried lowland soil of the estuaries along the Salmon and Nehalem rivers on the northern Oregon coast. This buried soil is the result of sudden subsidence induced by a great earthquake about 300 years ago along the Cascadia subduction zone, which extends offshore along the North Pacific Coast from Vancouver Island to northern California. The earthquake 300 years ago was the latest in a series of subsidence events along the Cascadia subduction zone over the last several thousand years. Over the long term, subsidence and burial of prehistoric settlements as a result of Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes have almost certainly been an important factor contributing to the limited time depth of the archaeological record along this section of the North Pacific Coast.

Resumen

Resumen

Fogones asociados con una ocupacion prehistórica indígena yacen en el subsuelo más reciente de las tierras bajas de los estuarios a lo largo de los ríos Salmon y Nehalem en la casta norte de Oregón. Este subsuelo es el resultado de un colapso súbito inducido por un gran terremoto occurido hace aproximadamente 300 años en la zona de retracción Cascadia, la cual se extiende mar adentro a lo largo de la costa norte del Pacífico desde la Isla Vancouver hasta el norte de California. El terremoto de hace 300 años fue el último de una serie de colapsos a lo largo de la zona de retracción Cascadia en milenios recientes. A largo plazo, el colapso y enterramiento de asentamientos prehistóricos como resultado de los terremotos en la zona de retracción Cascadia indudablemente es un factor importante que ha contribuido a lafalta de profundidad cronológica del registro arqueológico de esta sección de la costa norte del Pacífico.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , October 1996 , pp. 772 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1996

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