1663 Charlevoix earthquake
USGS-ANSS | ComCat |
---|---|
Local date | February 5, 1663 |
Local time | 17:30 |
Magnitude | 7.3–7.9 Mw |
Epicenter | 47°36′N 70°06′W / 47.6°N 70.1°W |
Areas affected | New France British America |
Max. intensity | MMI X (Extreme)[1] |
The 1663 Charlevoix earthquake occurred on February 5 in
The event occurred during the early European settlement of North America and some of the best recorded first hand accounts were from Catholic missionaries that were working in the area. These records were scrutinized to help determine the scale of damage and estimate the magnitude of the quake in the absence of abundant records from that time period.[4]
Tectonic setting
The Charlevoix Seismic Zone (CSZ) lies along the St. Lawrence River, northeast of Quebec City. Although eastern Canada has relatively infrequent earthquakes, due to its location away from active plate boundaries, the CSZ is its most active part, with five earthquakes of estimated magnitude of 6 or greater since historical records began. Focal mechanisms for earthquakes in this zone are consistent with rupture on both reverse faults and strike-slip faults of varied orientation. The main structures of the area are faults of the Saint Lawrence rift system that run parallel to the river, formed during the break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic. The greatest seismicity occurs where the rift is overprinted by a ~300 Ma meteorite impact structure, the Charlevoix impact structure. Most CSZ earthquakes have hypocenters within the Grenvillian basement at depths between 7 and 15 km. Many of the smaller earthquakes do not appear to be located on the rift faults, but within the volumes of rock between them. Larger events lie outside the impact structure and have inferred nodal planes consistent with reactivation of the rift faults. The relatively weak impact structure is interpreted to cause a perturbation of the regional stress field, affecting the stability of the rift faults.[5]
The estimated length of the most active portion of the CSZ was 73 kilometres (45 mi) and the fault area was put at 73 km × 25 km (45 mi × 16 mi). By comparison, the 7 February
Effects
The earthquake was felt sharply in
Great landslides along the Saint Lawrence, Saint-Maurice, and
Historical records
The inhabitants of the land were the
Aftermath
Immediately after the earthquake, the missionaries, once it had become clear that no lives had been lost, regarded the earthquake not only as a timely warning to the population of New France for their sinfulness, but also as a sign of God's protection. They described it as "miraculous" rather than a disaster,[17] regarding the date of the earthquake as particularly important, coming on the last day of the carnival, just before Mardi Gras. They were pleased to see all the colonists attending church regularly in the following days and that even the traffickers in wine and brandy appeared to repent. These effects were short-lived and Lalemant and other missionaries were soon left wishing for another great earthquake to help them in their cause.[18]
See also
- List of earthquakes in Canada
- List of earthquakes in the United States
- List of historical earthquakes
References
- ^ "M 7.0 - Near La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada". earthquake.usgs.gov. USGS. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
- ^ a b c Ebel 2011, p. 1024
- ^ a b c Smith, W. E. (1962), Earthquakes of eastern Canada and Adjacent areas 1534–1927, vol. 26, Publications of the Dominion Observatory, pp. 271–301, archived from the original on 2013-01-01, retrieved 2008-10-10
- ^ a b Ebel 2011, p. 1025
- .
- ^ a b "Historic Earthquakes: St. Lawrence Valley region, Quebec, Canada, 1663". United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2010-02-09. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
- ^ Ebel 2011, p. 1026
- ^ Ebel 2011, p. 1027
- ^ Ebel 2011, pp. 1027, 1030
- ^ a b J. L. Coffman; C. A. von Hake, eds. (1970). Earthquake History of the United States Publication 41-1. United States Department of Commerce / United States Department of the Interior. p. 9.
- ^ Natural Resources Canada (24 February 2009). "Landslides". Archived from the original on 2 July 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ Locat, J.; Martin F.; Locat P.; Leroueil S.; Levesque C.; Konrad J.-M.; Urgeles R.; Canals M. & Duchesne M.J. (2003). "Submarine mass movements in the Upper Saguenay Fjord, (Québec, CAnada), triggered by the 1663 earthquake" (PDF). pp. 497–507. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
- ^ Marie de l'Incarnation (1967). Word from New France: Selected Letters from Marie de l'Incarnation. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Berry 2006, p. 12
- ^ Hodgson 1928, p. 326
- ^ Hodgson 1928, p. 332
- ^ Berry 2006, p. 14
- ^ Berry 2006, p. 34
- Bibliography
- Ebel, J. E. (June 2011), "A New Analysis of the Magnitude of the February 1663 Earthquake at Charlevoix, Quebec", Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 101 (3),
- Hodgson, E. A. (1928), "The Probable Epicentre of the Saint Lawrence Earthquake of Feb. 5 1663", Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 22, Bibcode:1928JRASC..22..325H
- Berry, L. (2006), "Le Ciel et la Terre nous ont parlé — Comment les missionnaires du Canada français de l'époque coloniale interprétèrent le tremblement de terre de 1663" (PDF), L'Histoire Environnementale (in French), 60 (1–2), Institut d'histoire de l'Amérique française: 11–35