The Pacific Northwest is at risk for a mega-earthquake because of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. The region is primed for powerful quakes, with a particularly strong one called the Big One ...

One example of these areas is in the western Pacific, where the presence of a submerged plate should be impossible, as there’s been no subduction zone nearby in recent geologic history.

The model displayed remnants of submerged plates located under oceans and in the middle of continents, which—according to our current understanding of the plate tectonic cycle—are all too far from any ...