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Earthquakes did not exert additional stress on the Cascadia subduction zone, where the large earthquake is expected to occur.
Several powerful earthquakes rocked a submarine ridge off Canada's coast Sunday night, hitting Juan de Fuca's plate, which is expected to cause "the biggest" in the Pacific Northwest. Geologists downplayed their importance in predicting when the most important earthquake would occur.
According to Harold Tobin, director of the Pacific North Seismic Network at the University of Washington, four shocks were recorded 45 minutes from the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. They began at 9:39 pm with a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, followed by a magnitude 6.8 shock at 10:16 pm. Tremors of magnitude 6.5 and 4.9 followed at 22:22. and 10:36, respectively. Several aftershocks followed.
Emergency Info BC tweeted that earthquakes had been felt in some parts of the province, but no injuries or injuries had been reported.
The shaking took place on the ridge of the Pacific Ocean floor that separates Juan de Fuca's plate and its western neighbor, the Pacific Plate. But they do not necessarily signal an impending 9.0 magnitude earthquake, or a so-called "big", which geologists say will hit the Pacific Northwest, according to Tobin. This earthquake is expected to occur along the Cascadia fault line on the east side of the Juan de Fuca plate.
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The recent earthquakes "obviously attract our attention," Tobin said during a phone interview. But "it's important to reassure people, it does not mean that suddenly a Cascadia event is likely."
The largest earthquake was relatively shallow, about 6 miles, and struck about 149 miles west of Tofino, BC. More profound earthquakes may be felt farther away. Where they occur, which is why few people in the northwest felt the tremors of Sunday, said Don Blakeman, geophysicist of the US Geological Survey based in Golden, Colorado.
Earthquakes did not exert additional stress on the Cascadia subduction zone, where the large earthquake is expected to occur. This zone is located along the fault line where the tension goes up under the earth's crust and where are cities like Seattle. The new shakes were recorded just at the edge of the fault zone.
The National Tsunami Warning Center tweeted that a tsunami was "not expected". The earthquakes were caused by the lateral displacement of the plates relative to each other, as opposed to the vertical movement that tends to create tsunamis, said Tobin.
According to John Cassidy, earthquake seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, several aftershocks were recorded in the hours following the earthquakes.
"The most likely scenario now is that aftershocks will continue for days or weeks, but they will decrease over time and become less frequent," he said in an interview with Victoria.
A number of earthquakes of this magnitude in a 45-minute window are unusual, but they do not necessarily mean that a damaging shaker is imminent, Cassidy said.
"It's a very good reminder of the movements of the plates and the earthquakes that occur here in this region. We have seen much bigger in the past – and we will do it again in the future – so it is important to be wary of earthquakes, to know what to expect and to be prepared. "
British Columbia is part of the Pacific Fire Belt, an active seismic zone, and thousands of mostly small earthquakes are recorded each year by sensors in the province.
Associated Press information has been used in this story.
