Here are the 4 most important earthquakes in southern Ontario | News

You'd never know it, but southern Ontario has been hit by three earthquakes in two weeks, the last two occurring on Wednesday, June 12 and another on May 30.

The June 12 earthquakes occurred north of Peterborough and north of Belleville, and the May 30 earthquake was in Georgian Bay north of Wiarton.

To be honest, they were all small, the one just north of Peterborough at 1.9 on the Richter scale, the one north of Belleville at 1, and the one on May 30 in Georgian Bay at 1.6.

But again, southern Ontario is not a marked seismic zone, Allison Bent, a seismic research scientist with the Canadian Hazards Information Service, explained in an email interview.

“I searched our earthquake catalog for earthquakes of magnitude 4 or greater and found only four in the southern Ontario region,” she said.

This goes back 70 years.

She added: “All of them are less than 5 degrees.”

But she added one caveat.

“However, it is possible that larger quakes were felt by some residents of southern Ontario but that their epicenters were in western Quebec, eastern Ontario or on the US side of Lake Ontario.”

But for the four major earthquakes with their epicenters in southern Ontario, here's their list.

April 27, 1954: Magnitude 4.1, eight kilometers northwest of St. Catharines. July 22, 1958: Magnitude 4.3, 20 km east of Welland. February 20, 2005: 4.3 degrees, felt in Owen Sound, Parry Sound and area. April 20, 2018: 4.1 degrees, seven kilometers east of Amherstburg

She noted that southern Ontario's relative safety from high-impact earthquakes is shown in Natural Resources Canada's “Simplified Ontario Seismic Hazard Map.”

Ontario seismic hazard map.

By natural resources map of canada

“You can see that the risk to the area where these recent earthquakes occurred is very low but slightly higher than in the Northern Canadian Shield,” she said of the map. But she added that large earthquakes in “orange” zones could be felt by residents of southern Ontario.

She confirmed that the three recent earthquakes that struck southern Ontario did not generate any reports that we were aware of, and we did not expect them to occur.

“A magnitude of 2-2.5 is generally considered the minimum a person might feel but this is not a hard rule. At this magnitude, one should be very close to the earthquake and relatively free of other noise sources.”

She explained that even those at the bottom of Georgian Bay likely went unnoticed except for the sensitive instruments used by scientists.

“It would have been too small to affect the wave height in Georgian Bay.”

Not only are the earthquakes that have struck southern Ontario historically small, they are historically rare.

“The number can vary, but there are usually only a few earthquakes in southern Ontario each year, and they are usually all small (less than magnitude 3),” Bent said.

Regarding the reason for their occurrence, she explained that “most earthquakes occur along the boundaries between plates. The closest border is the Mid-Atlantic Mountain Range (recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland are linked to the MAR).

“However, stresses from plate boundaries can travel over long distances and cause earthquakes far from the plate boundaries in the interior of the plates.

“These earthquakes likely occur on ancient, reactivated faults, but because they are too small to rupture the Earth's surface, we cannot link a specific earthquake to a specific fault.

“This also applies to larger earthquakes in eastern Canada.”

For more information, visit the Earthquakes Canada website.

Top stories delivered to your inbox.

subscription

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos