Native American Serpent Spirit-Power Stories along the Seattle Fault

July, 2005

PDF Version of the Article Serpent Spirit-Power Stories along the Seattle Fault, 2005, R. S. Ludwin, C. P. Thrush, K. James, D. Buerge, C. Jonientz-Trisler, J. Rasmussen, K. Troost, and A. de los Angeles, Seismological Research Letters, V. 76, No. 4, 426-431.

The Seattle fault runs east-west and cuts through downtown Seattle. Geologic evidence indicates that it ruptured in a major earthquake (estimated magnitude 7.3) around A.D. 900, causing 21 feet of offset at the surface, a tsunami in Puget Sound, and large block landslides into Lake Washington. Native traditions from Puget Sound associate landsliding and earth-shaking with a monstrous serpent called a'yahos. The a'yahos is said to live at particular places, and large features that appear to be ancient landslides can be seen in LIDAR images of several a'yahos sites. An additional a'yahos story locale is near large block landslides into Lake Washington that have been dated to 900 AD.

See also:
• Native American stories used to date 1700 Cascadia Earthquake
• UW Press Release - by Vince Stricherz