Tuesday November 29, 2022 | VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Several earthquakes were detected this evening in Alberta, next door to British Columbia.
BC is normally top-of-mind as an earthquake zone, so this caught particular attention here on the west coast this evening.
Series of Alberta quakes:
There were several quakes in a row, all in the range of 4.0 to 5.8 Magnitude (source: Earthquakes Canada):
- 3:45 pm M 4.9 (48 km from Peace River)
- 3:51 pm M. 4.6 (47 km from Peace River)
- 4:45 pm M 5.3 (12 km ENE of Reno) / 4 km below surface
- 4:55 pm M 5.3 (49 km from Peace River)
- 5:24 pm M 4.3 (45 km from Peace River)
- 5:40 pm M 4.0 (43 km from Peace River)
- 5:55 pm M 5.8 (26 ENE of Reno) / 2 km below surface
- 6:55 pm M 4.5 (45 km from Peace River)
- 6:55 pm M 5.0 with aftershock (17 km ENE of Reno) / 5 km below surface
Recent quake at Tofino:
Recently there was a similar size quake at Tofino here on Vancouver Island. That quake was M 4.8 (34 km WNW of Tofino) at 7:50 pm PST on Nov 25, 2022. That one was quite deep, at 32 km below the surface.
What is Magnitude:
Magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy released during an earthquake. It may be expressed using the Richter scale.
The magnitude scale is logarithmic. This means that, at the same distance, an earthquake of magnitude 6 produces vibrations with amplitudes 10 times greater than those from a magnitude 5 earthquake and 100 times greater than those from a magnitude 4 earthquake. In terms of energy, an earthquake of magnitude 6 releases about 30 times more energy than an earthquake of magnitude 5 and about 1000 times more energy than an earthquake of magnitude 4.
It is very unlikely that an earthquake of magnitude less than 5 could cause any damage, says Earthquakes Canada.
More detail:
- What is the “magnitude” of an earthquake?
- What it is the difference between magnitudes ML and mN?
- Certain earthquakes have a negative magnitude, is this an error?
- Is there a maximum magnitude for an earthquake?
- At what magnitude do earthquakes begin to be felt? When does damage start do to be observed?
- Do several magnitude scales exist?
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca . Fully online since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from the extensive groundwork of previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to the news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC provincial news, and national news impacts. [See Island Social Trends Politics Archive].
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