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The McNaughton Lake earthquake of May 14, 1978

PACIFIC GEOSCIENCE CENTER EARTH PHYSICS BRANCH DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, MINES AND RESOURCES, SIDNEY, BC Canada, V8L 4B2
DEPARTMENT OF GEOPHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, VANCOUVER, BC Canada, V6T 1W5
DIVISION OF SEISMOLOGY AND GEOTHERMAL STUDIES EARTH PHYSICS BRANCH DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, MINES AND RESOURCES, OTTAWA, ON Canada, K1A OY3

Abstract

At 22h37m02s UTC on May 14, 1978, a magnitude (M_L) 4.8 earthquake occurred in the Canadian Rockies near McNaughton Lake, the large reservoir behind the Mica Dam in eastern British Columbia. The data suggest it was not a reservoir-induced earthquake.

The earthquake was within a seismic array monitoring the reservoir and consequently, the epicenter is well constrained in a northwest-southeast direction. The preferred epicenter is 52.65°N, 118.89°W, slightly east of the Rocky Mountain Trench, with a shallow focal depth of about 10 km. There were no foreshocks but a normal aftershock sequence. The focal mechanism, the first for the eastern Canadian Cordillera, indicates predominantly right-lateral strike-slip faulting along the strike of the mountains with a significant thrust component. The moment is 4 ± 2 x 10²³ dyne-cm with a low stress drop (<10 bars). A well-developed Lg phase was recorded to the south of the earthquake. The isoseismals are elongated in a north-south direction and the rate with which intensity attenuates in a southerly direction is comparable to that for eastern North America.

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