Portland's "Weird Smell" is Not a Sign of Oregon's Expected Earthquake

Question

Over this past week, I saw a TikTok video of a girl from Portland, Oregon, claiming that there was a "weird" sulfur-like smell spreading across the Portland metro area. The creator of the TikTok and its comments stated it was due to the ground shifting, as a sign of Oregon's earthquake threat, of which has a 7-15% chance of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake within the next 50 years (Emergency Management of Washington County, Oregon).

I looked this information up and found that "...as concerns of the odor stemming from a possible eruption spread on social media. Using air quality and seismic equipment, officials have confirmed that there has been 'no abnormal activities or readings' from Mount St. Helens between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning" (KGW8).

The odor resembled "'natural gas, propane, burning garbage, burning rubber, ammonia, and others,' Cowlitz fire officials said" (KGW8), in which The U.S. Geological Survey states there has been no increase compositions of gases coming from vents of their monitoring systems, as well as the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted from Mount St. Helens, which rules out the possibility of Oregon's due Earthquake being a concern from the "weird smell".

Answer 1

On the linked site, the news KGW article, it claims that "The U.S. Geological Survey said it was "very confident" that the smell is not related to volcanoes, as the systems show no increase or change in the composition in Mount St. Helens' gases." The mention of an earthquake isn't mentioned much throughout both reads, it only talks about an eruption. Which yes, those natural disasters come hand-in-hand but it's just fear-mongering. 

This site also states, "Vic Leatzow, fire chief for Cowlitz County, said they're as "frustrated as everyone else" that they still can't find the source. They're currently working with the EPA to find more answers."

They also linked a Facebook post by the verified organization, USGS Volcanoes, that read the exact same information from the news article, that they are working on a response to this unexplained smell. 

https://www.facebook.com/USGSVolcanoes/posts/pfbid0AiJSrhqM56xnAUERo7GQDtBgY4NEUJvVFXyYqYwRkvoXmPtRyqzMVg5PugHJno6ml

Comments

Your fact check brings up a key point: the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed that the smell was not related to volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens, stating that there were no changes in gas composition. It’s crucial to focus on verifiable facts, like the involvement of the EPA and USGS in investigating the smell, rather than speculation or fear-mongering about an eruption. The absence of evidence linking it to seismic activity or volcanic eruptions suggests caution when interpreting these events without further information.

Answer 2

the KGW website shows that the idea that the smell is related to an earthquake isnt in fact ture as there hasnt seemed to be any sign of such thing happening or Mt saint helens exploding too

Quote: Their monitoring stations measure the compositions of gases coming from vents, as well as the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted from Mount St. Helens. The U.S. Geological Survey said it was "very confident" that the smell is not related to volcanoes, as the systems show no increase or change in the composition in Mount St. Helens' gases.'

its not something to worry too much of or think of too much as it says on the website too

Quote "Multiple fire, environmental and utility agencies in Cowlitz, Clark and Columbia counties, as well as at the Washington state and federal level, are investigating the odor source, fire officials said."

Its something they are looking in deph at as it really is an odd thing to happen in portland just helps the motto "Keep Portland Weird"