No damage expected after minor earthquake recorded off B.C. coast
The 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the B.C. coast on Sunday, occurring in one of Canada's most seismically active zones.
A minor earthquake was recorded off the B.C. coast on Sunday, but it didn't cause any damage or a tsunami threat.
The 4.8-magnitude tremor on Sunday was recorded at a depth of 10 kilometres, occurring 196 kilometres west-southwest of Bella Bella, B.C., according to Earthquakes Canada/Natural Resources Canada.
No damage is to be expected as a result, and none was reported.
A minor event, about 12,000 earthquakes occur globally of this magnitude (4.0-4.9).
The amount of energy it releases is more impressive, however. A magnitude 4.0 tremor can release about 15 tonnes of TNT, which is significant, while a magnitude 8.1 earthquake can unleash upwards of 21 million tonnes of TNT by comparison.
Where the quake occurred
Sunday's quake occurred along the Queen Charlotte Fault, a right-lateral, strike-slip fault, where the opposite side of it moves to the right, just like the San Andreas Fault in California.
The fault marks the boundary between the Pacific and the North American plates, Canada’s most seismically active fault zone.
The largest, regional earthquake--Canada's strongest to date--in the Queen Charlotte Fault zone was a massive, 8.1-magnitude tremor that occurred on Aug. 22, 1949. It released 1.4 million times more energy than the earthquake that was recorded on Sunday.
With files from Tyler Hamilton, a meteorologist at The Weather Network, and Nathan Howes, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.