Historical Earthquake Damage in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, Canada

Abstract

Other| January 01, 2010 Historical Earthquake Damage in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, Canada Maurice Lamontagne Maurice Lamontagne Natural Resources Canada 615 Booth Street, Room 216 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E9 Canada malamont@nrcan.gc.ca Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Maurice Lamontagne Natural Resources Canada 615 Booth Street, Room 216 Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E9 Canada malamont@nrcan.gc.ca Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1938-2057 Print ISSN: 0895-0695 © 2010 by the Seismological Society of America Seismological Research Letters (2010) 81 (1): 129–139. https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.81.1.129 Article history First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Maurice Lamontagne; Historical Earthquake Damage in the Ottawa-Gatineau Region, Canada. Seismological Research Letters 2010;; 81 (1): 129–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/gssrl.81.1.129 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search Abstract Based on earthquake hazard and population, the seismic risk of the Ottawa-Gatineau region ranks third in Canadian urban areas. As part of a seismic microzonation project, the impact of earthquakes was documented for the 18 strongest events that affected the region. These events were 12 moderate earthquakes (magnitude between 5.0 and 6.1) at less than 300 km epicentral distance and five more-distant earthquakes (350 to 525 km epicentral distance) with epicenters in the Charlevoix seismic zone and in the Saguenay region. It was found that between 1830 and 2008, 13 of these earthquakes had an impact in Ottawa of at least Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) level V. Most earthquakes occurred in the first half of the 20th century when Ottawa occupied only a small proportion of its current urban area. Consequently, most damages occurred in the city's historical downtown, where most of the buildings were located. At a very local level, certain city districts (wards) were affected more than others, suggesting higher levels of ground motions due to unconsolidated deposits. Historically, a 10–50-m thick basin filled with unconsolidated deposits in downtown Ottawa had most instances of MMI VI and VII. In contrast, other areas with a thin veneer of unconsolidated material had very little damage. Considering the rapid development of the Ottawa region during the past few decades, other areas that were weakly populated during past earthquakes could suffer damage in future earthquakes. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.