|  |
THE SEISMICITY AND SEISMOTECTONICS OF CANADA EAST OF THE CORDILLERA
John Adams Peter Basham
Canada east of the Cordillera, extending north from
the United States border to the Arctic Ocean, comprises about two-thirds of
the stable craton of the North American plate. Much of this large area appears
to be substantially aseismic, although it
contains several zones of significant seismicity and a few other
regions of lower-level seismicity. The seismicity of the
southern part, together with the adjacent United States, was compiled
comprehensively by Smith (1962, 1966), who collected earthquake reports
compiled by others, analysed original records where possible, and decided
on the best location and magnitude for each earthquake. Smith's maps have
been widely used by others (e.g. Yang and Aggarwal, 1981).
Further earthquake analysis, including spatial distibution, recurrence rates,
and relationship to geological structure, was made by Basham et al. (1979) and
refined by Basham et al. (1982a). The latter paper, although the
most thorough seismicity compilation to date, was compiled for an engineering
seismic hazard study and is not widely known or circulated, although the
conclusions were published (Basham et al., 1985). Other recent reviews are
Hasegawa et al. (1985), which deals with the crustal stresses driving the
eastern Canadian seismicity, Hasegawa (1986), which discusses the
seismotectonics of southeastern Canada, and Kumarapeli (1987), which
discusses seismic zones in relation to ancient fault systems and
postglacial faulting.
|
