Field Studies Target 2012 Haida Gwaii Earthquake

Abstract

At 8:04 P.M. Pacific daylight time (PDT) on 27 October 2012 (03:04 universal time (UT), 28 October), Canada's second largest instrumentally recorded earthquake rocked Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Islands) and the mainland coast of British Columbia. The M 7.7 event off the west coast of Moresby Island caused a tsunami with local runup of more than 7 meters and amplitudes up to 0.8 meter on tide gauges 4000 kilometers away in Hawaii. Shaking was felt as far away as the Yukon, Alberta, Washington, and Montana, up to 1500 kilometers away. Little damage was caused, as the immediate region is an uninhabited National Park Reserve. The closest point of the rupture zone, as defined by aftershocks (Figures 1a and 1c), was 50 kilometers from the nearest community, Queen Charlotte, where damage was confined to a few chimneys and slumped roads.