0 100 200 km
Kingston
Toronto
Gatineau Ottawa
Montreal
2010/06/23 M 5.0
MagnitudeM < 3 M 3 M 4 M 5 M 6
1935
1944
1732
2000
2002
Origin Time June 23, 2010 1:41 pm EDTMagnitude (Mw) 5.0Latitude 45.88 ºN Longitude 75.48 ºW Depth 22 km
The June 23, 2010 Val-des-Bois, Quebec earthquake was the one of the largest recent events in eastern Canada. This earthquake produced the strongest shaking ever felt in Ottawa. It was felt widely in Ontario and Quebec, and it was also felt into the United States as far as Kentucky. Some damage occurred in the epicentral region.
The magnitude (M) 5.0 Val-des-Bois, Quebec earthquake occurred in a region of moderate earthquake activity known as the West Quebec seismic zone. This broad region of activity extends from northern New York State through eastern Ontario and western Quebec (see map). On average, 150 earthquakes, most of them too small to be felt, are recorded here each year. The largest historically damaging earthquakes in this region include a M6 near Montreal (1732), a M6.2 near Timiskaming (1935) and a M5.8 near Cornwall (1944). Recently, 2 moderate earthquakes have occurred near Timiskaming (2000, M 4.7) and Plattsburgh, NY (2002, M 5.1). Like the Val-des-Bois event, both of these moderate sized earthquakes were widely felt in Ontario, Quebec and the northern United States.
The West Quebec Seismic Zone
Record of the shaking in Ottawa
Damage to a church from a falling chimney in Gracefield, QC (Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press)
The 2010 Val-des-Bois Quebec EarthquakeEarthquake Summary
The shaking experienced in Ottawa from the Val-des-Bois earthquake is probably the strongest that the city has experienced in the past 200 years. Despite this, the estimated shaking from the recorded ground motions for Ottawa are well below the design level of shaking used in the 2005 National Building Code of Canada. For one or two storey structures the shaking from the Val-des-Bois event is about one fifth the design shaking.
1:41:40 pm :50 1:42:00 :10 :20 :30
Origin time
P wave arrival
S wave arrival
The Origin time (1:41:41 pm local time) is the actual time the earthquake started.
Primary waves travel at about 6 km/second and take roughly 10 seconds to arrive. These may have been noticed as .light shaking
Secondary waves travel at 3.5 km/second and take 17 seconds to arrive. These waves are much larger in amplitude and they would have generated the strong shaking that was widely felt.
The amplitude dies off fairly quickly, being significantly lower even just 10 seconds after the S waves began to arrive.
10 seconds
Ottawa seismogram
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada 2010. Aussi disponible en francais
Government of Canada work on earthquakes is undertaken by Natural Resources Canada’s Earth Sciences Sector.
For more information on earthquakes visit theGeological Survey of Canada, NRCan website:EarthquakesCanada.nrcan.gc.ca
Geological Survey of Canada7 Observatory CrescentOttawa, ON K1A 0Y3
Tel: 613-995-5548 (English)Tele: 613-995-0600 (French)[email protected]
In the hours following the earthquake, six portable seismographs were installed to record aftershocks. To the end of September, 2010 288 aftershocks were located. The majority of these (244) ocurred in the first week following the event. The largest aftershock was magnitude 3.3 – five of the aftershocks were reported felt.
Aftershocks and Field Stations
Damage and Intensity ReportsDistribution of Val-des-Bois aftershocks in space (left) and time (right)
0.00 0.60 1.20 1.80 2.50 3.10 3.85 4.70 5.30 6.00
I II - III IV V VI VII VIII IX X+
Not felt Weak Light Moderate Strong Very Strong Severe Violent Extreme
none none none Very light Light Moderate Moderate/Heavy Heavy Very Heavy
INTENSITY
SHAKING
DAMAGE
Chimney damage,Ottawa, ON(Garth Gullekson, The Ottawa Citizen)
Damage to supermarket contents, Gracefield, QC (Stéphane Kelly, Mon Topo)
Landslide triggered by the earthquake, Mulgrave-et-Derry, QC (Didier Perret, Natural Resources Canada)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Magnitude
27 04 11 18 25 01 08 15 22 29 05 12 19 26
June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010
many smaller aftershocks unlocated
Embankment failure south of Bowman, QC(Jean Levac, The Ottawa Citizen)
400 metres
Landslide triggered by the earthquake, Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette, QC (Ministry of Transport, Quebec)
0 500km
Montreal Ottawa
Quebec
Toronto
Boston
BuffaloDetroit
Halifax
New York
Washington
Cleveland
Cincinnati
PittsburghIndianapolis
0 10 20km
Ottawa
Gatineau
Kanata
Buckingham
Constance Bay
Metcalfe
Orleans
Greely
Manotick
Barrhaven
Nepean
Stittsville
Dunrobin Navan
Carlsbad Springs
Luskville
Aylmer
Hull
Carp
Old Chelsea
Cantley
0 10km
Val-des-Bois
Notre-Dame-du-Laus
Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette
Mulgrave-et-Derry
Magnitude1
2
3
5Field Station
mainshock