Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 6.1 earthquake has been recorded off the west coast of Vancouver Island Thursday morning.
The national earthquake agency says the quake, which was recorded at 8:08 a.m., is part of an ongoing “swarm of earthquakes offshore Vancouver Island, at the intersection of the northern Juan de Fuca Ridge, Sovanco Fracture Zone, and Nootka Fault Zone.”
Speaking to CityNews Thursday morning, John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, said there have only been a few felt reports due to the quake.
“This earthquake, although it’s a large earthquake, is still far enough away that it hasn’t wasn’t felt by most people on the island and the closest communities,” he explained.
The US Geological Survey initially recorded the quake, about 220 kilometres west of Tofino, as being magnitude 6.6, and Cassidy explains that the magnitude recorded may change over time as “more data comes in and more analysis” is done.
Thursday’s earthquake comes after the region saw about 10 earthquakes since the beginning of July, according to Earthquakes Canada.
Cassidy said the region sees “swarms” of earthquakes every few years or so, but generally, they consist of much smaller quakes.
“This particular swarm that we’ve seen since July, the third has been a series of magnitude 4 and 5 earthquakes. And today’s of course, is the largest in that sequence, it’s in the same general area. So we expect it would be a part of that swarm.”
No comments:
Post a Comment