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The Western Quebec Seismic Zone

Location
Earthquakes
Network
Epicentres
Research
Comments/Questions  		Location
  • The Western Quebec Seismic Zone constitutes a vast territory that encloses the Ottawa Valley from Montreal to Temiscaming, as well as the Laurentians and the Eastern Ontario. The urban areas of Montreal, Ottawa-Hull and Cornwall are thus located in this zone.


Earthquake activity 
  On an epicentral map, the historical earthquakes and the seismic activity recorded by the Canadian seismographic Network since the beginning of the century clearly define the borders of the Western Quebec Zone. Roughly speaking, the earthquakes concentrate in two sub-zones: one along the Ottawa River and along a more active Montreal-Maniwaki axis. Between 1980 and 1997, the earthquakes located by the network seismographic illustrate the main trends observed for the older earthquakes.
The Western Quebec Zone was the site of at least three significant earthquakes in the past.
  • In 1732, an earthquake estimated at 5,8 on the Richter scale shook Montreal, causing significant damage.
  • In 1935, the area of Témiscamingue was shaken by an Earthquake of magnitude 6,2.
  • In 1944, an earthquake of magnitude 5,6 located between Cornwall (Ontario) and Massena, N.Y., caused damage evaluated to twoMillion dollars of the time.


From time to time, the area is also shaken by weaker earthquakes felt by the local population. Between 1980 and 2000, 16 earthquakes reached or exceeded a magnitude of 4,0 on richter scale.
  • In 1990, an earthquake of magnitude 5 took place near Mont-Laurier (Québec).
  • In 1996 and 1997, two earthquakes of magnitude 4,4 and 4,3 occurred near Ste-Agathe-des-Monts (Québec).


Seismograph Network
  Since the early 1980s, the zone is monitored by a local seismographic network. This network currently includes the following stations: MNT (Montreal, Quebec), TRQ (Mount-Tremblant, Quebec), WBO, Williamsburg, Ontario), GAC (Glen Almond, Quebec), OTT (Ottawa, Ontario), GRQ (Grand-Remous, Quebec), CRLO (Chalk River, Ontario), SADO (Sadowa, Ontario) and EEO (Eldee, Ontario). The local network is integrated into the Canadian National Seismograph Network. With the current distribution of stations, any earthquake with magnitude equal or higher than 2,0 would be detected and located. Any earthquake felt by the population of this area (thus magnitude equal or higher than 2,5), can be detected and located.
  Earthquake Epicentres  On an epicentral map, the historical earthquakes and the seismic activity recorded by the Canadian Seismographic network since the beginning of century define rather clearly the boundaries of the Western Quebec Zone. Roughly speaking, the earthquakes concentrate in two subfields: one along the Ottawa River and more active, along the Montreal-Maniwaki axis.
Since every five days on average, an Earthquake occur in the zone, a certain number of events must have occurred during the last 30 days.
Annual reports:


Research on the seismic zone 
  • Several papers describe the geological, Geophysics and seismological characteristics of the seismic zone.


Comments and questions
  • Your questions about the Western Quebec Seismic Zone are welcome.
    Maurice Lamontagne
Date Modified: 2011-03-17

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