Earthquakes hit the Pacific Coast

Anacortes Wa., | Elaine Ossipov | 28th of October, 2012.

Just two days after the beginning of one of the largest hurricanes of the season, the east coast scrambling for safety and the Pacific Coast is hit with two Earthquakes the epicenter landing on one of the outside lying Queen Charlotte Islands. This, the first of the two, was 7.7 on the richter scale and focused 17.5 KM underground.

The next some seven hours and approximately 10 miles off the coast was much milder and rang in at a 4.4 magnitude.

So far, no injuries or loss of life have been reported.

The Queen Charlotte Islands lay off the coast of British Columbia lay about halfway between Washington State and Alaska. With the islands south side facing the Queen Charlotte Sound and the Hecante straight between the island and British Columbia the area is teaming with both fish and wildlife. Cousteau, Custodians of the Sea filmed a “Pacific northwest: Land of the Living Totems” here in 1988. The giant Octopus hides in the shallows of this island and when caught can weight up to 100 pounds and be over 20 feet in diameter, although larger ones have been reported, this is the largest caught.

This area is also known for it’s pods of Killer Whales and Eagles. The island itself lies just sound of 55 degrees North Longitude between the 130 & 135th latitudes for those of you who wanted to look it up on google earth.

These little guys are from the Bowie Sea Mount

The Delta submersible was used to explore the Bowie Seamount in 2000

Credit: Photo Courtesy of Lynn Yamanaka, DFO

Thre Preliminary Earthquake report is now in:

Earthquake Details

This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.

Magnitude	7.7
Date-Time	Sunday, October 28, 2012 at 03:04:10 UTC Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 08:04:10 PM at epicenter Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location	52.769°N, 131.927°W
Depth	17.5 km (10.9 miles)
Region	QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS REGION
Distances	263 km (164 miles) S (185°) from Metlakatla, AK 277 km (172 miles) SSE (167°) from Hydaburg, AK 285 km (177 miles) S (184°) from Saxman, AK 727 km (452 miles) NW (306°) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Location Uncertainty	horizontal +/- 14 km (8.7 miles); depth +/- 4 km (2.5 miles)
Parameters	NST=716, Nph=716, Dmin=267.2 km, Rmss=0.95 sec, Gp= 58°, M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=A
Source	Magnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usb000df7n