At least three times in the last 7,500 years (the blink of an eye in geologic time) the Boulder Creek Fault in Whatcom County has produced earthquakes that were probably stronger than California’s Northridge ‘quake in 1994 – and Western Washington University Professor of Geology Liz Schermer wants to know more.

Working in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey and a colleague from Humboldt State University, Schermer is looking to continue the research she started when the USGS first discovered the fault in 2005: How long is it? Which way does the ground move when the fault ruptures? And in the big picture, how dangerous and how active is this fault.

“There are basic questions we need to answer, like how much potential this fault has for another destructive earthquake, how big the earthquakes could be, and how much ground motion there has been in past earthquakes, since the earthquakes were fairly shallow and could have caused damage over a large area,” she said. “Answers to those questions will go a long way to our understanding of how this fault works and what steps to take to avoid or mitigate the hazard.”

Schermer said another fault has been discovered buried beneath the coast in the northern part of Whatcom County, and part of her research now will be focused on if the Boulder Creek fault connects with this fault.

“If the Boulder Creek fault runs all the way across the county, it would be a larger, more extensive fault system than anyone had anticipated, so this is what we’ll be looking at in the future,” Schermer said.