Mackenzie Mountains, Canada magnitude 4.5 earthquake (9:05 PM, 24 July 2020)

James St. John
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Mackenzie Mountains, Canada magnitude 4.5 earthquake (9:05 PM, 24 July 2020)
Mackenzie Mountains, Canada magnitude 4.5 earthquake (9:05 PM, 24 July 2020)

These are seismograms for the Maple Creek and Parker Peak seismic stations in Yellowstone, Wyoming. The prominent noise on the 21:00 lines (click on the image once or twice to zoom in) was caused by shock waves from a magnitude 4.5 earthquake that hit the southeastern Mackenzie Mountains in northwestern Canada. The quake occurred at 9:05 PM, local time, on 24 July 2020. Shock waves arrived at the seismic stations at 9:09 PM, Yellowstone time, a little over 4 minutes after the quake hit.

The Mackenzie Mountains are part of a very long mountain chain called the Cordillera. The Alpine-Himalayan Belt in the Old World and the Cordillera are the two longest mountain chains on Earth. The Cordillera is along the western margin of the New World - it consists of Alaskan mountains, the Canadian Rockies, the American Rockies, Central American mountains, and the Andes of South America. Most of the chain is relatively young, geologically - late Mesozoic to Cenozoic. Much of the Cordillera formed by subduction, but other tectonic processes have also played a role (collisions of small blocks, translational tectonics, and extensional tectonics).

See info. at:
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000b3ul/exec...
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An earthquake is a natural shaking or vibrating of the Earth caused by sudden fault movement and a rapid release of energy. Earthquake activity is called "seismicity". The study of earthquakes is called "seismology". The actual underground location of an earthquake is the hypocenter, or focus. The site at the Earth's surface, directly above the hypocenter, is the epicenter. Minor earthquakes may occur before a major event - such small quakes are called foreshocks. Minor to major quakes after a major event are aftershocks.

Most earthquakes occur at or near tectonic plate boundaries, such as subduction zones, mid-ocean ridges, collision zones, and transform plate boundaries. They also occur at hotspots - large subsurface mantle plumes (Examples: Hawaii, Yellowstone, Iceland, Afar).

Earthquakes generate four types of shock waves: P-waves, S-waves, Love waves, and Rayleigh waves. P-waves and S-waves are body waves - they travel through solid rocks. Love waves and Rayleigh waves travel only at the surface - they are surface waves. P-waves are push-pull waves that travel quickly and cause little damage. S-waves are up-and-down waves (like flicking a rope) that travel slowly and cause significant damage. Love waves are side-to-side surface waves, like a slithering snake. Rayleigh waves are rotational surface waves, somewhat like ripples from tossing a pebble into a pond.

Earthquakes are associated with many specific hazards, such as ground shaking, ground rupturing, subsidence (sinking), uplift (rising), tsunamis, landslides, fires, and liquefaction.

Some famous major earthquakes in history include: Shensi, China in 1556; Lisbon, Portugal in 1755; New Madrid, Missouri in 1811-1812; San Francisco, California in 1906; Anchorage, Alaska in 1964; and Loma Prieta, California in 1989.

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Taken on: July 25, 2020
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