The Tsunami That Hit Japan In Dead Silence — And The Cascadia Fault That Sent It

On January 27, 1700, the sea rose and flooded the coast of Japan — but no one felt the ground shake. Japanese records called it an "orphan tsunami": a wave without a parent earthquake. For almost 300 years, its origin was a complete mystery. In this video, we follow the clues that solved it: ghost forests of dead cedars standing in the salt marshes of Washington, tree rings that stop growing in 1699, Indigenous oral histories of the Makah and other nations, and layers of deep-sea mud that reveal a fault rupturing again and again for 10,000 years. The answer points to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a 600-mile fault off the coast of North America that unleashed a magnitude 9.0 megaquake. Today, more than 15 million people live on top of it, and the fault is quietly building energy for the next one. 🌍 Ground Truth: explaining the forces that shape our planet. 👉 If you enjoyed this story, subscribe and turn on notifications. Your support helps the channel grow! #Cascadia #Tsunami #Earthquake