Fault line on Canadian border thought dormant for years could cause major earthquake, new study shows
The Tintina fault stretches about 600 miles from northeastern British Columbia into Alaska. It was previously thought to have last been active around 40 million years ago.
But a study published in Geophysical Research Letters earlier this month found signs of more recent activity.
New topographic data collected from satellites, airplanes and drones showed about an 80-mile-long segment of the fault where 2.6 million-year-old and 132,000-year-old geological formations are laterally shifted across the fault.
'We further show that the fault has not ruptured in a major earthquake for at least 12 thousand years, and could generate an earthquake of at least magnitude 7.5 in the future,' the study read. 'The Tintina fault therefore represents an important, previously unrecognized, seismic hazard to the region.'
An earthquake with a 7 to 7.9 magnitude is considered major and can create serious damage, according to Michigan Tech. These types of earthquakes are fairly rare, with only 10 to 15 estimated to occur each year.
Michigan Tech warns earthquakes with a magnitude of 8 or greater, which typically occur only once every year or two, can destroy communities near the epicenter.
'Based on the data, we think that the fault may be at a relatively late stage of a seismic cycle, having accrued a slip deficit, or build-up of strain, of six meters in the last 12,000 years,' Theron Finley, a recent University of Victoria phD graduate and lead author of the new study, explained in SciTechDaily. 'If this were to be released, it would cause a significant earthquake.'
The Daily Mail reported, citing seismologists, there are fears the fault line could send tremors into British Columbia, Alberta and Montana.
Dr. Michael West, state seismologist at the Alaska Earthquake Center, told the Mail, 'It is one of the least studied fault systems in North America, and that needs to change.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
That substance in the water of Great Slave Lake is likely just ash, says DFO
A substance spotted in the water of Great Slave Lake on Thursday is likely "a collection of ash," said Fisheries and Oceans Canada. An "unknown, black substance" near Mosher Island was reported to the Canadian Coast Guard's Arctic Region Marine Environmental and Hazards Response (MEHR) team Thursday morning. MEHR collected samples and submitted them for testing. Based on the evidence, they've confirmed that the curvy black line in the water is ash, likely from a burn barrel "or something of that nature," wrote Jeremy Hennessy, a public affairs officer for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in an email. Brian Fidler lives next to Yellowknife Bay and noticed the streak in the water when he was looking out his window. Fidler has lived in Yellowknife for almost five years and said he's never seen anything like it before. "It was a beautiful morning. The water was flat, calm," he said. "I noticed the boats in the little bay there and this weird line that came out seemed to trail from the Yellowknife River direction and kind of curl around." Fidler said it looked like the substance was floating towards Jolliffe Island. While the substance didn't give off the "rainbow kind of fuel" that oil spills are typically characterized with, Fidler said he was still concerned because he didn't know what the slick was. "If more is gonna be coming out into the lake, I don't want to see that. I don't wanna put my boat through it," he said. "If it is chemical or petroleum based, it's not good for the environment. It's not good for our lake." An on-water assessment by MEHR indicated that the substance is not oil-based. There are no impacts to Yellowknife's drinking water and it "is not believed to pose any danger to the public or to wildlife in the area," Hennessy wrote.
Epoch Times
9 hours ago
- Epoch Times
Canada Renews Funding for China Student Exchange Program That Requires Allegiance to Communist Regime
Canada has renewed funding for a bilateral scholarship program that requires Chinese candidates applying to study in Canada to show allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and uphold the party's 'socialist system.' David Morrison, deputy minister of foreign affairs at Global Affairs Canada, on July 30 signed an agreement with his Chinese counterpart, executive vice minister Ma Zhaoxu, to renew the Canada-China Scholars' Exchange Program. Through the program, Ottawa funds Chinese applicants to conduct research at Canadian universities as visiting scholars for 4–12 months.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Crews deployed to battle invasive 'vampire fish' in Great Lakes
Crews are out in the field, working to keep sea lamprey populations under control this summer, according to a recent social media post from Fisheries and Oceans Canada: Work began back in April in Lake Erie in Ontario and is expected to continue into October. That's good news, because when left to multiply, sea lampreys can cause big problems and threaten the Great Lake's $5.1 billion fishing industry. Yikes! (Canva) There are four native lamprey species in the Great Lakes - the American brook lamprey, the chestnut lamprey, the silver lamprey, and the northern brook lamprey. The sea lamprey is invasive, and it can devastate local ecosystems. That has a lot to do with its size. Sea lampreys are big compared to naive species -- up to four times bigger. And in the Great Lakes, they have almost unlimited food availability, practically unlimited spawning grounds, and no natural predators. Sea lampreys posing for the camera. (Fernando Losada Rodríguez/Wikipedia) CC BY-SA 4.0 COVID-19 restrictions caused a spike in sea lamprey population COVID-19 safety restrictions paused the ongoing work needed to control sea lamprey populations in the Great Lakes. A March 2025 study found this caused sea lamprey numbers to "skyrocket," highlighting the need for ongoing control measures. Experts say the invasive lampreys can kill more fish than humans in the Great Lakes. Vampire fish Sea lampreys can inflict gruesome damage on their prey, earning these eel-like parasites the nickname "vampire fish." Only about one in seven fish attacked by a sea lamprey will survive. They will suction themselves to a fish, creating a seal that's nearly impossible to break off. They have about 100 teeth, which they use to suction to the side of a fish, and a sharp tongue that drills through its scales. They secret an enzyme that prevents blood from clotting. Once attached, the sea lamprey will spend the next several months feeding off the blood and fluids of the host animal. Lake trout with lampreys attached. (Great Lakes Fishery Commission/Wikipedia) Just in case you're wondering, sea lampreys can accidentally latch on to humans, usually when people are swimming. A bite won't be fatal, but it can be painful, and untreated wounds could lead to infection. Sea lampreys don't pose a threat to people though - they aren't interested in us and human bites appear to be rare. In their native environment, the Atlantic Ocean, sea lampreys don't often kill their host. In the Great Lakes, where sea lampreys have not co-evolved alongside native species, they are a significant threat. Shipping canals transport more than just ships Sea lampreys entered the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean through man-made shipping canals, popping up in Lake Ontario in the 1830s. When the Welland Canal deepened in 1919, sea lampreys gained access to all the Great Lakes -- and they remain there to this day, although their numbers are falling. In the 1950s, the U.S. and Canada teamed up to implement population control measures), and they have worked. Several strategies, including traps to capture adult lampreys, lampricides to target sea lamprey larvae, and installing barriers and traps are a few tactics in use. So far, it's working. Today, sea lamprey populations are down by around 90 per cent in the Great Lakes. Header image: Cheryl Santa Maria for The Weather Network, using elements from Canva Pro and the public domain.
