New Quakes Today Off Vancouver Island
Kim Westad
Vancouver Sun - British Columbia
Victoria, B.C. - A 6.1 level earthquake off the coast of northern Vancouver Island this morning is the largest of a cluster of quakes that's been happening since Monday.
But this latest earthquake, 157 kilometres off the coast from Port Hardy, like the almost two dozen that have already happened this week, isn't cause for alarm, say seismologists.
Graphic: HOLLY NOTE: USGS earthquake map shows 46 events. Because so many occurred directly over each other, only a few are visible. Click here to see the list.
Because they're happening relatively far out in the ocean, it would take an earthquake of about a 7 on the Richter scale to be felt on Vancouver Island, and then it would be a "very gentle rumbling," said Stephane Mazzotti, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada in Sidney.
Graphic: U.S. Geological Survey map of the quake activity area.
"This is fairly typical activity happening," Mazzotti said this morning. The Sidney centre has been inundated with telephone calls since reports of the earthquakes have been reported.
The so-called earthquake swarms happen regularly as the earth shifts beneath the ocean floor.
The latest cluster of quakes have ranged from those that barely register to the 6.1 one this morning. That's the biggest one so far, and happened near the northern end of the Explorer Ridge, an area where the sea floor is spreading. The two pieces of earth are moving away from each other, Mazzotti said, and there's a lot of volcanic activity.
Earthquake swarms have happened in that area before. The quakes have largely been centred near that area, in about a 20 kilometre range.
The earthquake swarms are different from those felt on land. Then, there's usually a "big one," followed by numerous aftershocks. With the swarms off-coast, the bigger ones can happen at any time and be interspersed over a few days.
The largest earthquake in a swarm has been 6.8 earlier this year. A gentle shaking was then felt on land in Port Hardy and Bella Bella, Mazzotti said.
He said there's no worry of the quakes causing a tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey registered the quake as having a magnitude of 5.8. The agency also recorded quakes from the same area today at 6:14 a.m., registering 3.9; a 4.2 quake at 12:28 a.m.; a 4.0 quake at 12:59 a.m. and a 4.8 quake at 2:20 a.m.
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Mag. 4.0 2008/08/28 20:36:43 49.323 -129.228 10.0 297 km (185 mi) WSW of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.2 2008/08/28 16:20:41 50.196 -129.589 10.0 312 km (194 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/28 15:50:11 43.420 -127.123 10.0 222 km (138 mi) W of Bandon, OR
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/28 15:20:37 50.142 -129.608 10.0 313 km (194 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.5 2008/08/28 15:00:47 43.129 -126.345 10.0 156 km (97 mi) WNW of Port Orford, OR
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/28 14:13:12 50.148 -129.671 10.0 317 km (197 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 3.9 2008/08/28 13:14:52 50.048 -129.731 10.0 322 km (200 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 5.9 2008/08/28 12:37:35 50.174 -129.582 10.0 311 km (193 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.8 2008/08/28 09:20:30 50.148 -129.637 10.0 315 km (196 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.0 2008/08/28 07:59:53 50.143 -129.563 10.0 310 km (192 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.2 2008/08/28 07:28:53 50.221 -129.398 10.0 298 km (185 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.0 2008/08/28 06:42:21 50.234 -129.530 10.0 308 km (191 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/28 05:38:25 50.014 -129.715 10.0 321 km (199 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.4 2008/08/28 04:47:54 50.069 -129.680 10.0 318 km (198 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.2 2008/08/28 03:16:07 49.873 -127.295 10.0 148 km (92 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.3 2008/08/28 02:08:29 50.093 -129.621 10.0 314 km (195 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.6 2008/08/28 01:58:36 50.107 -129.553 10.0 309 km (192 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.6 2008/08/28 01:15:15 50.159 -129.613 10.0 313 km (195 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.3 2008/08/27 22:45:33 50.092 -129.623 10.0 314 km (195 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.8 2008/08/27 19:59:22 50.207 -129.769 10.0 325 km (202 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 3.9 2008/08/27 19:54:08 50.371 -129.858 10.0 332 km (206 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 2.2 2008/08/27 19:32:22 46.244 -122.752 17.7 12 km (8 mi) ESE of Castle Rock, WA
Mag. 4.0 2008/08/27 19:19:08 50.047 -129.846 10.0 330 km (205 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.6 2008/08/27 18:47:10 50.205 -129.745 10.0 323 km (201 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/27 18:10:06 49.977 -129.893 10.0 333 km (207 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.0 2008/08/27 17:41:52 50.213 -129.779 10.0 325 km (202 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.3 2008/08/27 07:31:45 49.914 -129.863 10.0 332 km (206 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.2 2008/08/27 06:52:24 49.934 -129.804 10.0 327 km (203 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.1 2008/08/27 06:24:39 49.855 -129.976 10.0 340 km (211 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 4.2 2008/08/27 04:25:26 49.938 -129.881 10.0 333 km (207 mi) W of Campbell River, Canada
Mag. 1.9 2008/08/25 08:25:42 45.025 -122.544 14.8 10 km (6 mi) E of Scotts Mills, OR
Mag. 1.2 2008/08/24 18:45:00 48.519 -121.595 9.2 4 km (2 mi) N of Rockport, WA
Mag. 1.1 2008/08/24 14:16:07 45.138 -120.927 13.5 13 km (8 mi) ESE of Maupin, OR
Mag. 1.4 2008/08/24 14:02:24 47.698 -120.201 9.6 2 km (2 mi) NNE of Entiat, WA
Mag. 1.3 2008/08/24 10:57:04 47.711 -122.269 26.5 4 km (2 mi) WSW of Inglewood-Finn Hill, WA
Mag. 1.6 2008/08/24 07:49:37 46.737 -120.848 6.7 8 km (5 mi) WNW of Tieton, WA
Mag. 1.5 2008/08/24 00:39:45 45.438 -123.854 44.1 2 km (1 mi) SSW of Tillamook, OR
Mag. 2.6 2008/08/23 21:05:57 46.867 -122.028 7.0 12 km (8 mi) N of Ashford, WA
Mag. 1.9 2008/08/23 21:03:20 46.836 -121.923 9.5 12 km (7 mi) NE of Ashford, WA
Mag. 1.8 2008/08/23 13:33:50 46.193 -122.184 1.0 1 km (1 mi) SSW of Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA
Mag. 2.2 2008/08/23 12:37:56 43.235 -120.640 16.5 61 km (38 mi) N of Paisley, OR
Mag. 1.7 2008/08/23 12:33:24 47.916 -121.928 14.5 4 km (2 mi) NW of Woods Creek, WA
Mag. 3.8 2008/08/23 10:57:22 43.704 -127.625 10.0 268 km (166 mi) WNW of Bandon, OR
Mag. 1.4 2008/08/23 02:12:03 44.075 -121.786 0.0 31 km (19 mi) SW of Sisters, OR
Mag. 1.7 2008/08/23 01:33:26 47.435 -121.779 25.6 4 km (3 mi) SSW of Riverbend, WA
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