The Ring of Fire is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. In a large 40,000 km (25,000 mi) horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and plate movements. It has 452 volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is sometimes called the circum-Pacific belt.
A seismic hazard is the probability that an earthquake will occur in a given geographic area, within a given window of time, and with ground motion intensity exceeding a given threshold. With a hazard thus estimated, risk can be assessed and included in such areas as building codes for standard buildings, designing larger buildings and infrastructure projects, land use planning and determining insurance rates. The seismic hazard studies also may generate two standard measures of anticipated ground motion, both confusingly abbreviated MCE; the simpler probabilistic Maximum Considered Earthquake, used in standard building codes, and the more detailed and deterministic Maximum Credible Earthquake incorporated in the design of larger buildings and civil infrastructure like dams or bridges. It is important to clarify which MCE is being discussed.
The New Madrid Seismic Zone, sometimes called the New Madrid Fault Line, is a major seismic zone and a prolific source of intraplate earthquakes in the southern and midwestern United States, stretching to the southwest from New Madrid, Missouri.
The Indian subcontinent has a history of devastating earthquakes. The major reason for the high frequency and intensity of the earthquakes is that the Indian plate is driving into Asia at a rate of approximately 47 mm/year. Geographical statistics of India show that almost 54% of the land is vulnerable to earthquakes. A World Bank and United Nations report shows estimates that around 200 million city dwellers in India will be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050. The latest version of seismic zoning map of India given in the earthquake resistant design code of India [IS 1893 2002] assigns four levels of seismicity for India in terms of zone factors. In other words, the earthquake zoning map of India divides India into 4 seismic zones unlike its previous version, which consisted of five or six zones for the country. According to the present zoning map, Zone 5 expects the highest level of seismicity whereas Zone 2 is associated with the lowest level of seismicity.
Earthquake scenario is a planning tool to determine the appropriate emergency responses or building systems in areas exposed to earthquake hazards. It uses the basics of seismic hazard studies, but usually places a set earthquake on a specific fault, most likely near a high-population area. Most scenarios relate directly to urban seismic risk, and seismic risk in general.
The Saint Lawrence rift system is a seismically active zone paralleling the Saint Lawrence River. The rift system trends northeast and southwest and forms a half-graben that links the Ottawa-Bonnechere and the Saguenay grabens. The rift system extends more than 1,000 km (620 mi) along the Saint Lawrence valley from the Ottawa – Montreal area. Within the system, fault reactivation is believed to occur along late Proterozoic to early Paleozoic normal faults related to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.
The Timiskaming Graben is a 400 km (250 mi) long and 50 km (31 mi) wide depression straddling the Ontario–Quebec border in Eastern Canada. It is a northwesterly extension of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a failed arm of the Saint Lawrence rift system which is related to the opening of the Iapetus Ocean.
The 1935 Temiskamingue earthquake occurred on November 1 with a moment magnitude of 6.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII. The event took place in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec.
The 2000 Kipawa earthquake struck Quebec and Ontario, Canada with a moment magnitude of 5.2 at 6:22 a.m. on January 1. It occurred in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone. The main shock epicenter was located in Lake Kipawa about 10 km (6 mi) north of Témiscaming in southwestern Quebec and 70 km (43 mi) northeast of North Bay, Ontario. The shaking was strongest within 50 km (31 mi) of the epicenter. It was felt in Témiscaming, North Bay and as far away as Toronto, making it one of the most significant earthquakes in Canada in 2000. The earthquake was triggered by major thrust faults associated with the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben.
The 1732 Montreal earthquake was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck New France at 11:00 a.m. on September 16. The shaking associated with this earthquake shook the city of Montreal with significant damage, including destroyed chimneys, cracked walls and 300 damaged houses, as well as 185 buildings destroyed by fire following the earthquake. A girl was reported killed from the seismic activity, although Gabriel Leblanc found present information could not substantiate the claim, especially since, if the death was true, it should have been but was not mentioned in the description of the natural disaster by Sister Cuillerier, a staff member of the Hotel Dieu Hospital. The 1732 Montreal earthquake is one of the major earthquakes that occurred in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone.
Earthquakes have occurred in Western Australia (WA) on a regular basis throughout its geological history.
The South West Seismic Zone is a major intraplate earthquake province located in the south west of Western Australia. It was known earlier as the Yandanooka – Cape Riche Lineament, corresponds to the physiographic boundary known as the Meckering Line, and also the junction between Swanland and Salinaland
The zone exists within an Archaean Shield structure called the Yilgarn Block. The identified geological subdivisions within this Precambrian structure do not show an obvious relation to the seismicity.
The Western Quebec Seismic Zone is a seismically active area in the Ottawa Valley in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. The zone stretches from Montreal to Témiscaming and from Cornwall up along the Laurentian Mountains.
The 2007–2008 Nazko earthquakes were a series of small volcanic earthquakes measuring less than 4.0 on the Richter magnitude scale. They took place in the sparsely populated Nazko area of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada starting on October 9, 2007 and ending on June 12, 2008. They occurred just west of Nazko Cone, a small tree-covered cinder cone that last erupted about 7,200 years ago.
The Enriquillo–Plantain Garden fault zone is a system of coaxial left lateral-moving strike slip faults which runs along the southern side of the island of Hispaniola, where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located. The EPGFZ is named for Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic where the fault zone emerges, and extends across the southern portion of Hispaniola through the Caribbean to the region of the Plantain Garden River in Jamaica.
The 2010 Central Canada earthquake occurred with a moment magnitude of 5.0 in Central Canada on 23 June at about 13:41:41 EDT and lasted about 30 seconds. The epicentre was situated in the area of Buckingham, Quebec, approximately 56 kilometres (35 mi) north of Ottawa, Ontario, closest to the settlement of Val-des-Bois, Quebec. Canada's capital, Ottawa, declared this earthquake as being its most powerful in 65 years.
The Charlevoix Seismic Zone is a seismically active area in the Charlevoix region of northeastern Quebec, Canada. It is also known as the Charlevoix-Kamouraska Seismic Zone because earthquakes occur in Kamouraska County where the land expression of the seismic zone is separated by the Saint Lawrence River. Much seismic activity takes place under the river.
The Laurentian Slope Seismic Zone is a seismically active area in Atlantic Canada located on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. It was the epicenter of the magnitude 7.2 1929 Grand Banks earthquake. Since then, more than 20 relatively minor earthquakes have occurred.
The 1872 North Cascades earthquake occurred at 9:40 p.m. local time on December 14 in central Washington state. A maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) was assessed for several locations, though less intense shaking was observed at many other locations in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. Some of these intermediate outlying areas reported V (Moderate) to VII shaking, but intensities as high as IV (Light) were reported as far distant as Idaho and Montana. Due to the remote location of the mainshock and a series of strong aftershocks, damage to man made structures was limited to a few cabins close to the areas of the highest intensity.
