The offshore region between Northern Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii is one of the most seismically active regions in Canada. There have been more than 2,000 earthquakes during the last 4 to 5 years, and four of them measured more than 6 on the richer scale. While the magnitude 2.9 quake in Campbell River last February was smaller, it is a reminder that earthquakes happen here. In this morning’s broadcast Andrew Schaeffer, an Earthquake Seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, describes the network of seismic stations that observe earthquakes off the West Coast
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environmental Consequences Continue: Bute Inlet landslide
Scientists are just becoming cognizant of the environmental consequences. According to the Hakai Institute, which operates an ecological observatory on Quadra Island,10 million cubic metres of rock and earth plunged into Elliot Creek on November 28th. Andrew Schaeffer, a Pacific division seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said the landslide “sent out low-frequency surface waves resembling those of a quake with an equivalent magnitude of 4.9.” The glacial lake outburst was about 100 metres high and to shot through Elliot Creek into the Southgate River and Bute Inlet.
Continue reading environmental Consequences Continue: Bute Inlet landslide
Effects of Bute Inlet landslide unfolding
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Environmental impacts from millions of tonnes of earth and water sluicing down a valley and spilling into the ocean are just beginning to be understood, say scientists studying a massive landslide in the Bute Inlet watershed.
Continue reading Effects of Bute Inlet landslide unfolding